BNP Paribas AM fund Parvest Step 90 Euro will next month celebrate its first ten years with an outstanding volume of €81m in Italy, equal to 35% of global fund volume.
The fund has collected €174m since the beginning of 2009, with an average inflow of over €2m a day over the last few months. "Parvest Step 90 Euro is currently in second place in popularity in the Sicav Parvest family," said Andrea Mossetto from the BNPP AM team. In Italy, thanks to interest from IFAs, insurance companies and private bankers, volume has increased by 50% since the beginning of the year.
Parvest Step 90 Euro is an actively-managed Luxembourg fund with flexible exposure to the performance of the DJEurostoxx50 and a ratchet mechanism: on 16 December each year, a floor is set at 90% of the fund value. Growth of 10% in the value of the fund will reset the floor at 90% of the new value on any product anniversary.
"In 2008, before any other country, Italian investment in the fund was of around 70% of total outstanding volume. Thanks to a worldwide marketing campaign since then, in subsequent months, the product has also begun to see positive responses in France, Benelux and Spain," continued Mossetto.
The fund is up 30% since launch, while its reference, DJEurostoxx50, is down minus 35% over the last ten years. Year to date, the fund has registered a positive performance of 12.82% compared with 12.09% for the underlying index.
Mossetto said BNPP AM has two new products in the pipeline, aimed mainly but not exclusively at US dollar-based investors. One fund will be exposed to emerging markets and the other to the US market. "This will be the first time we have used explanatory videos in addition to the usual marketing material such as FAQs for distributors, commercial pitches, fact sheets and flyers in different languages to enable investors to make prudent and informed decisions about equity investments," he said. Commitment to the client is indeed crucial.
Mossetto also pointed out the advantages of investing in funds as a wrapper: "Our funds are very transparent and liquid: the whole portfolio can be liquidated in just one day," he said. Parvest Step 90 Euro's 260-day volatility largely remains in a range of 4%-10%; it remained in that range even during the recent financial crisis. "Due to this straightforward concept, we haven't received any client complaints in the ten years the fund has been established," he said.
Parvest Step 90 Euro is available to investors in France, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Czech Republic, Austria, Portugal and Spain. Step funds have a total of almost €1bn under management.