Financial Services, Funds, Good for Business, Investments, Latvia

Results of the investment funds were affected by the currency of investments as investments in Russian and US currencies showed better results.

For bond funds, the yield was between plus 0.4% and plus 38.6%. The total assets of these funds grew 3.8% from the beginning of this year to EUR 180.4 mln at the end of December 2016. The bond funds mostly focused on corporate debt securities in the high risk/high yield segment.

The yield of mixed-type funds ranged from minus 0.5% to plus 7.2%. The assets of these funds totaled EUR 13.2 mln in December, increasing 3.9%. At the end of December, the mixed-type funds had invested mostly in certificates of deposit, which accounted for 57% of their total portfolio, and debt securities (43%).

In case of stock funds, the yield was in the range between minus 4.4% and plus 51.5%, and their total assets stood at EUR 24.7 mln at the end of December 2016, down 19% from the beginning of the year. The stock funds had mostly invested their money in investment certificates (60%) but a considerable portion of the investments was also in shares of Russian companies (15% of total portfolio).

At the end of December 2016, there were five licensed alternative investment fund management companies and seven registered alternative investment fund management companies operating in Latvia and managing assets totaling EUR 143.3 mln, up 62% from the beginning of the year. At the end of the year 96% of alternative funds assets were invested in Latvia, 12% in Estonia, and 1% in the UK.