GERMANY - The German arm of Crédit Suisse Asset Management has reported mixed results for 2006, with its institutional funds posting inflows and its mutual funds hit by outflows.

CSAM Germany said inflows to its institutional funds totalled €409m last year. As a result, the firm's institutional assets under management were €4.7bn as of December 31 2006. Around one-quarter of this volume comes from German pension funds and ecumenical organisations.

"Last year's inflows as well as a good start in the first quarter of this year shows that German (institutional) investors are increasingly demanding the global resources and international expertise of Crédit Suisse," said Axel Grosskreutz, chief executive of CSAM Germany.

As examples, Grosskreutz cited CSAM's enhanced index concepts, "innovative" fixed income products and alternatives like hedge funds, private equity and infrastructure funds.

Yet CSAM Germany's institutional AUM for 2006 was still below the €4.9bn level for 2005.

Moreover, chief rival UBS Global Asset Management has, in the past two years, become one of the premier players in Germany's institutional market. At last count, UBS' German institutional AUM was €8bn.

CSAM Germany's mutual fund business was, meanwhile, hit by €788m in investor outflows last year. Nearly all of the outflows (€764m) were from an open-ended real estate fund called CS Euroreal.

CS Euroreal has since recovered somewhat, taking in €450m in fresh money during the first quarter of 2007.

Including its mutual fund volume, CSAM has nearly €11bn under management in Germany.

Elsewhere, JP Morgan Asset Management has recorded a 21% increase in global assets under management - boosted by institutional inflkows into liquidy and alternative products.

JP Morgan said its asset management division had assets under managmenet of $1.1trn at the end of the first quarter, an increase of 21% or $180bn over the prior year.

It said: "The  increase was the result of net asset inflows in the institutional segment, primarily in liquidity  and alternative  products; retail flows, primarily in equity-related products; and market  appreciation." Assets under custody increased to $14.7 trillion, up 31%.

Meanwhile, in the UK the firm has launched a range of Liability Driven Investing funds for pension schemes. The Duration & Alpha funds "offer a way to reduce pension schemes' funding risk while at the same time, offering potential for excess returns relative to their liabilities".

Elsewhere, custodian bank the Bank of New York reported assets under custody of $13.8trn at the end of the quarter, up from $11.3trn a year before. Assets under management rose to $196bn.

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