EFAMA has published today the latest edition of its Market Insights series, titled “The sectoral performance of active and passive UCITS - is a simple measure enough?”. This publication compares the net performance of different categories of equity UCITS funds over the last ten years (2014-2023).
Significant differences in net performance are observed among equity UCITS across various industry sectors for both active and passive funds.
While passive equity funds generally outperform active equity funds when comparing net returns across the entire universe of equity funds, this pattern does not hold consistently across all sectors.
Some active funds outperform passive funds and vice-versa depending on the industry sector, the year, and the time horizon, demonstrating that no single category consistently delivers superior performance.
- These findings remain robust even after accounting for return volatility.
Vera Jotanovic, Senior Economist at EFAMA, commented: “Our analysis reveals significant differences in the average net performance of sectoral equity funds, with neither passive nor active funds consistently outperforming the other.”
EFAMA’s Senior Director Bernard Delbecque, commented: “Given the high diversity among investment funds, retail investors should seek professional guidance before allocating their savings into specific equity funds, ensuring their choices align with their individual investment goals and preferences.”
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Notes to Editors
For further information, please contact:
Hayley McEwen
Head of communications and member development
About the Market Insights
EFAMA’s Market Insights series analyses recent industry trends and developments based on the latest available data and presents our findings in the context of current policy perspectives. We publish numerous concise reports each year covering diverse topics such as competitiveness, ETFs, AIFs, SFDR, the impact of inflation on retail investors, sustainable bond funds, UCITS costs, and performance, ESG fund markets, and money market funds.
