Meanwhile, European and cross-border funds experienced net outflows of $142bn in the quarter, as the eurozone debt crisis took its toll on investors’ confidence, according to Strategic Insight.
Despite continued market volatility, however, redemptions from long-term funds in Europe during September slowed to $63bn, an improvement on August’s figure.
Jag Alexeyev, head of global research at Strategic Insight, said: "The quarter was the most challenging since 2008, yet net redemptions within Europe and cross-border international funds represented just 2.5% of fund assets.
"Thus the vast majority of investors chose not to sell in spite of market volatility. Meanwhile in Asia, in particular Japan, investors continued to add to local funds, bringing year-to-date gains to $68bn."
The research firm said sustained volatility with more frequent and sharp price dislocations, lower expectations on growth and financial returns, compressed yields and fewer sources of income would continue to create tough market conditions.
But it added that investment strategies such as hedge-fund style alternatives were gaining traction within regulated fund structures as a way of offering enhanced management of volatility and in an attempt to combat some of the challenges facing investors.
