At the same time, Raiffeisen Romania Dividend, a fund that invests mainly in local equities listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, reached €120 million, making it the fund that has also recorded the fastest asset growth since the beginning of the year. In the first half of 2024, the fund returned almost 20%. Raiffeisen Asset Management's assets under management have increased by €180 million since the beginning of the year.
The number of clients investing in funds managed by Raiffeisen Asset Management increased by more than 30% to more than 95,000.
Raiffeisen Asset Management has a share of more than 20% of the Romanian open-end funds market by net assets under management, according to data published by AAF as of April 30, 2024.
"The interest in diversifying personal investments beyond traditional savings instruments is at least 5 times higher in Central and Eastern European countries compared to the local market. However, Romania has very good economic convergence and I am convinced that the same will be true when it comes to how we manage personal finances. I am glad that we are making an important contribution to this progress and I thank customers for their trust. The need to save and invest for retirement and other major goals is very high and meeting it will also depend on how market participants will support customers to get more out of their money through the instruments they use. For example, an additional 1 percentage point in annual return can lead to an accumulated amount more than 20% higher for a long investment horizon, and the return gain becomes more important than the personal contribution," Mihail Ion, Vice President of Capital Markets, Investment Banking and Personal Financial Planning Division, Raiffeisen Bank Romania.
"Investing in local securities and their spectacular performance over the last year and a half, whether in equities or government securities, has enabled the almost 100,000 investors in our funds to record significant returns. I am pleased that throughout this period there has also been a visible change in the way people are investing, they are also looking further out, equity funds have a higher weighting than in the past, both of which contribute to a better portfolio structure for investors," Adrian Negru, CEO of Raiffeisen Asset Management.
Raiffeisen Accumulation - the optional pension fund with a return double the inflation rate
Raiffeisen Acumulare is the third largest voluntary pension fund in Romania by number of participants, with a market share of 10.8% and the only fund in the market managed by an investment management company, SAI Raiffeisen Asset Management.
The fund has more than 80,000 participants and a balanced portfolio structure, corresponding to a medium risk level, with an allocation to return stability through 70-75% investments in bonds, combined with participation in the profits of listed companies through investments of 20-25% in equities.
In the more than 15 years since inception, the fund's cumulative return has been over 200%, while the cumulative inflation rate has been 90%.
Over the past year, the Raiffeisen Accumulation Optional Pension Fund was chosen by 50% of Romanians who joined an optional pension fund, according to official data as of December 2023.
