Net purchases of mutual fund shares

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During the first quarter of 2017, the net purchases of mutual fund shares registered in Norway amounted to NOK 32.7 billion. In particular, the financial companies are net subscribers, and equity funds were the most popular type of fund in the period.

The share capital of mutual funds managed by Norwegian fund managers increased by NOK 65.9 billion during the first quarter of 2017, and reached a total value of NOK 1112.3 billion at the end of the period. This corresponds to a 6.3 per cent increase during the period. About half of the change in total share capital, NOK 32.7 billion, is due to net purchases in the funds.

Figure 1

Stocks of mutual funds shares by type as of 31th of Mars 2017. Market value in NOK Million

The share capital of equity funds amounted NOK 581.3 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2017, and represents 52.3 per cent of the total market. This is an increase of 3.6 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2016. Similary, the share capital of bond funds in the same period has decreased 3.5 percentage points, from 31.2 to 27.7 per cent.

Largest net purchases in equity funds

The net purchases in equity funds during the first quarter of 2017 amounted to NOK 18.6 billion, contributing to an increase of 9.4 per cent in share capital at NOK 581.3 billion at the end of the quarter. Financial companies net purchased equity funds worth NOK 20.4 billion, of which life insurance companies and pension funds accounted for NOK 11.9 billion. The households also net purchased equity funds worth NOK 0.8 billion, while foreigners net sold equity fund shares worth NOK 3.2 billion. In addition to equity funds, bond funds and other bond funds had the largest net purchases of about NOK 5 billion each.

Figure 2. Net purchases of shares of equity funds by sector

Q1-2012 Q2-2012 Q3-2012 Q4-2012 Q1-2013 Q2-2013 Q3-2013 Q4-2014 Q1-2014 Q2-2014 Q3-2014 Q4-2014 Q1-2015 Q2-2015 Q3-2015 Q4-2015 Q1-2016 Q2-2016 Q3-2016 Q4-2016 Q1-2017
Households¹ -0.221 -0.775 -1.572 -0.401 0.106 -1.201 -0.559 -0.2 -1.393 -1.049 -0.338 -1.04 0.612 0.045 -0.569 1.491 0.299 -0.42 0.839 0.774 0.798
Life insurance companies and pension funds 2.35 1.679 0.09 -1.049 1.265 1.22 -1.275 8.723 1.198 4.572 3.268 -3.862 1.517 -7.574 0.398 -4.309 8.34 0.784 2.384 1.683 11.928
Rest of the world 2.952 -2.058 -0.448 4.135 2.349 -3.55 -0.969 1.085 -1.395 1.519 2.449 -15.333 -7.46 -7.883 -3.567 -3.868 -2.866 -3.911 -0.744 0.737 -3.155

Life insurance companies and pension funds largest holding sector

Life insurance companies and pension funds is the largest holding sector of mutual fund shares, holding shares worth NOK 466.3 billion. Although life insurance companies and pension funds are the largest holding sector, ownership has decreased by 1.9 percentage points in the two last quarters. Households, mutual funds and foreigners are also major shareholders in mutual fund shares, owning 14.6 per cent, 13.9 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. 

Figure 3. Owner share in the mutual funds shares capital as of 31th of Mars 2017

Antall
Lifeinsurance companies and pension funds 41.9 % 466334
Households 14.6 % 161865
Mutual funds 13.9 % 154221
Rest of the world 10.0 % 111015
Other financial Corporations 7.2 % 80627
Private non-financial Companies 7.1 % 79255
Non-profit making institutions 3.0 % 33610
General government 1.3 % 14278
Insurance Companies 1.0 % 10911

Figure 4. Largest owner shares by main sectors. Share of total stocks of mutual funds shares

Q2-2014 Q3-2014 Q4-2014 Q1-2015 Q2-2015 Q3-2015 Q4-2015 Q1-2016 Q2-2016 Q3-2016 Q4-2016 Q1-2017
Non-fiscal enterprises 7.50 7.20 6.80 6.70 6.70 6.70 6.30 6.40 6.40 6.5 6.7 7.1
Fiscal enterprises 60.80 61.60 62.20 62.90 63.50 64.70 62.80 64.10 64.80 64.8 64 64
Housholds 14.00 13.70 14.10 14.20 14.50 14.10 15.10 14.50 14.30 14.3 14.7 14.6
Rest of the world 13.10 13.00 12.30 11.60 10.70 9.90 11.20 10.30 9.90 9.8 10.1 10

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