Assets of TFI funds up with no change in position of market leaders

The assets of investment funds companies (TFI) rose compared to last month by 2.9% to zl. 13.47 billion. The biggest growth was shown by BZ WBK AIB TFI (80%) and Millennium TFI. The first fund could claim success thanks to its new sales strategy, while Millennium was able to so show such good results due to the fact that it only entered the market in January. The two fund leaders still remain Pioneer Pekao TFI, which has a market share of 24%, and PKO/Credit Suisse TFI, which has 18% of the market. The two funds are owned by the two biggest retail banks in Poland, respectively Pekao SA and PKO BP. The next three TFI's on the list are ING, DWS Polska and Skarbiec. Skarbiec, which last year was the biggest TFI, has for the last two months been facing a decrease in assets under management. In March clients were mostly in terested in bond funds, which are safe investments, but they also began to show interest in higher risk funds, including share funds. "This year will be tough for bond funds and share funds, but the worst period is already behind us. However, the bond funds market will be less profitable", said Cezary Iwanski, vice president of Pioneer Pekao Investment Management. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6, Rzeczpospolita, p. B6) A.D