CYPRUS: Cash held by investment funds half in 2 years

Loans and deposits held by 83 investment funds in Cyprus dropped to €247.3 mln in December, down €339 mln year-on-year and less then half of €511.8 mln in March 2013 when the Eurogroup imposed a bailout programme and forced the bail-in of depositors at the two systemic banks.

The drop was the lowest level since 2008 when the Central Bank of Cyprus started monitoring the approved investment funds.
In its quarterly Investment Fund Statistics, the Central Bank said that total assets held by the investment funds stood at €2.55 bln at the end of December 2014 compared to €2.17 bln in December 2013. At the end of September 2014 the total assets of investment funds amounted to €2.90 bln.
Total assets of the open-end funds fell in late December 2014 to €1.984 bln from €2.105 bln in December 2013, while the assets of closed-end funds declined in December 2014 to €566.8 mln from €611.9 mln in December 2013.
Total equity held by the investment funds in December 2014 dropped to €1.866 bln from €2.062 bln last year, while bonds rose to €20.3 mln from €6.2 mln the previous year.
Mixed investment funds assets rose to €397 mln compared to €373 mln the previous year. Funds that invest in real estate had assets of €157.3 mln in December 2014 compared to €170.4 mln in the same period of 2013. Other investment funds had total assets of €110 mln in December 2014 compared to €104.8 mln in the year-earlier month.