Mutual funds recover from FNI trauma and reach 200,000-investor peak

More than 200,000 investors are keeping their money with mutual funds, a record high level in the post-FNI (National Investment Fund) history of the domestic investment industry. "The number of investors is an indicator that mutual funds have regained the confidence capital lost in the wake of FNI collapse. The industry's performance is all the more relevant as the record high level of 202,000 investors was reached amid an international financial crisis," said Drago[ Neac[u, chairman of Erste Asset Management, the biggest fund manager domestically. In the wake of FNI collapse in the early 2000s, the number of investors in funds had plunged from over 200,000 to 50,000 in a matter of months, with months of slow growth following. Though years of crisis, 2008 and 2009 were years of records for mutual funds, which managed to attract over 100,000 new investors owing to Erste Asset Management and Raiffeisen Asset Management banking managers. The funds saw further growth this year, when the number of new investors topped 40,000, according to official data provided by the Association of Fund Managers in late July.