Opinion: What really drives fund flows?

The retail industry appears to find endless fascination from monitoring inflows and outflows from particular funds and asset management houses.

Providers are seeking the Holy Grail of learning what really drives product demand, while investors are eager to see what actions their peers are taking. Morningstar's latest research report, What factors drive investment flows?, should therefore make interesting reading. The study analysed global funds data stretching back to mid-2003 in the US, and 2008 outside the US. Woodford weathers volatile summer to top Pridham Report in Q3 Morningstar analysed the changes in net assets from month to month that cannot be explained by the fund's return. It then calculated the organic growth r...