Assets under management drop slightly in fourth quarter

The value of Total Assets under Management reached €11.6 bn in the fourth quarter of 2021, recording a minor decrease of 0.2 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2021, according to the latest Quarterly Statistics bulletin published by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

The statistical bulletin can be found on CySEC’s website and presents the most important data on the Collective Investments sector in Cyprus, a CySEC press release says.

Based on the data for the fourth quarter of 2021, CySEC supervises 310 Management Companies and Undertakings of Collective Investments (UCIs), 224 of which have operations.

In more detail, it supervises 198 Externally Managed UCIs, 45 Internally Managed UCIs and 67 External Fund Managers. The total number of Management Companies includes 38 AIFMs, 66 Sub-threshold AIFMs, 4 UCITS Management Companies and 4 dual license entities (AIFMs and UCITS Management Companies).

“The Total Assets Under Management (AUM) for the fourth quarter of 2021 reached €11.6 billion, recording a 0.2 per cent decrease since the third quarter of 2021 and the UCIs, managed by the Management Companies had a Net Asset Value (NAV) of €9.8 billion,” the press release adds.

Approximately 57 per cent of the AUM relate to Assets managed by the AIFMs, 14 per cent by the Sub-threshold AIFMs, 21 per cent by the AIFMs and UCITS Management Companies, 7 per cent by the UCITS Management Companies and only 1 per cent by the Regulated UCIs that are managed by Foreign Fund Managers, it notes.

Referring to the investment policy of UCITS, CySEC finds that it appears that they invest heavily in Transferable Securities (85.6 per cent), followed by investments in bank deposits (6.6 per cent) and investments in UCITSs and UCIs (6.5 per cent). AIFs, AIFLNPs and RAIFs invest mainly in Private Equity (38.9 per cent), while the investment in Hedge Funds represents 15.6 per cent of the AUM.

There is a total of 194 UCIs in operation. Comprising 77.7 per cent of the total AUM, there are 173 UCIs domiciled in Cyprus (11 UCITS, 55 AIF, 58 AIFLNP and 49 RAIF).

There are 194 UCIs in total with operations. The 77.7 per cent of the total AUM, relates to 173 UCIs domiciled in Cyprus (11 UCITS, 55 AIF, 58 AIFLNP and 49 RAIF).

Of the total 194 UCIs managed by UCI’s Management Companies, 142 invest in Cyprus entirely or partially and €2.6 billion (22.2 per cent) are investments made in Cyprus. 63.4 per cent of the investments in Cyprus are in Private Equity, while 11.7 per cent of the investments in Cyprus are in Real Estate.

Referring to the categorisation of unit-holders, the press release says that the majority of UCITs are Retail Investors (99.2 per cent), while for AIF, AIFNLP and RAIF, 30.8 per cent of them are Professional Investors, 57.3 per cent Well-Informed Investors and only 11.9 per cent Retail Investors.

Regarding the specific sectors that UCIs invested in, during the fourth quarter of 2021, AUM in the Energy sector totalled €309.4m (2.677 per cent of total AUM), while €30.4m was invested in Fintech (0.263 per cent of total AUM), €110.3m in Shipping (0.954 per cent of total AUM), €46.9m. in the Sustainability sector (0.407 per cent of total AUM) and €9.4m in Cryptocurrencies (0.081 per cent of total AUM), the press release concludes.