Understanding the relationship between fund flows and past performance in Australian managed funds

This study aims to understand the prevailing literature which examined the effect of past performance of funds, risk of the funds, choice of fund legislation and the global financial crisis on the fund flows among the different asset classes in Australia. The empirical findings of previous studies document that retail funds are more sensitive to the past performance of funds than those of wholesale segment. These studies further argue that risk of the funds seems to be ineffective in explaining the fund flows. Findings also report that the choice of fund legislation has resulted in attracting more funds into the managed funds. Finally, in the post global financial crisis period, there is a significant inflow of funds into the managed and equity funds.