Why Germany is loosing trust in its own investors: How do Germans invest? QPLIX has investigated this question again together with Institut für Vermögensaufbau (IVA) based on an analysis of more than 62.000 real portfolios. The results are summarised in the study "Trendmonitor Vermögensverwaltung (TMVV) 2024". The core finding: Germany loses trust of its own investors, as wealth flees abroad.
"Never before has so little German capital been invested in Germany."
"Never before has so little German capital been invested in Germany,"
says Andreas Ritter, member of the IVA Board of Directors and co-author of the study.
"North America's dominance, on the other hand, is reflected in a new record of 44.3% in the average German investment portfolio, while the eurozone is just below the 30% threshold in 2023."
The extensive portfolio data also shows a remarkable shift in the individual equity asset classes: the share of the so-called "Magnificent Seven" tech companies in the invested individual stocks has more than tripled in the last six years.
"The performance of these exceptional global tech giants has increased their share of German equity portfolios from 4.1% to 12.5%,"
says Sebastian Deck, Marketing Director at QPLIX and co-author of the study.
"However, by the end of 2023, we see the first signs of a bubble forming in this segment, which has also recently shown the first signs of losing momentum."
There are two exceptions to the overall trend: German equities continue to play an important role in the top 20 stocks due to their reliable and high dividends. And: the new favorite German single stock is European. The Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk has even overtaken the tech titans in 2023 and is the new favorite single stock of German asset managers.
"Novo Nordisk's globally hyped weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, have fueled professional investors' hunger for profitability - and catapulted the company to the top of the list of German stock favourites in 2023,"
analyses Deck.
While ESG has been a hot topic in the media in recent years, the data from the TMVV analysis tells a different story.
"Companies with medium ESG ratings and the light green Article 8 funds in particular have gained weight in fund investments,"
says Ritter.
"This indicates a trend that favors a moderate consideration of ESG criteria (for example through ESG screening, best in class or exclusion criteria) over a very consistent implementation of the ESG approach."
"Portfolios react like a seismograph not only to long-term economic trends, but also to the immediate effects of short-term trends and crises,"
explains Deck. The message is clear on one point:
"German asset managers are voting with their investment behavior and the reputation of their own country as an investment destination has reached an all-time low,"
analyses Deck.
In 2023, investments in German companies will account for less than a third of German portfolios for the first time (28.6%), far behind the USA (36%), but also behind the rest of Europe excluding Germany (31%).
Another formerly booming region has also lost popularity: with the collapse of supply chains during the coronavirus pandemic, the aggressive stance towards Taiwan and the trade dispute in the automotive industry, the weighting of China within the assets invested in individual equities was continuously reduced after 2020.
Ritter:
"On the subject of China de-risking, we can say on the basis of the portfolio data that it has already begun in German portfolios."
The complete asset allocation study Trend Monitor 2024 contains extensive further analyses on the current composition of German portfolios as well as the development of topics such as equities, bonds, currencies, investment regions, company sizes, credit ratings, ESG and EU taxonomy, cryptocurrencies and many more.
The "Trendmonitor Vermögensverwaltung" (Trend Monitor Asset Management) is the largest data-supported analysis of the investment behavior of professional asset managers in German-speaking countries. The study, a cooperation between the Institut für Vermögensaufbau (IVA) and wealth tech software provider QPLIX, has been in existence since 2018 and is currently based on an analysis of more than 62,000 real client portfolios. More than 100 independent asset managers and their clients have agreed to the anonymised and aggregated analysis of their portfolio holdings. In concrete terms, this currently means a database of more than 25,000 securities (including real estate funds, REITs, etc.) and more than 8,000 funds and ETFs.
The portfolio holdings are evaluated for the study four times a year, at the beginning of each calendar quarter. The portfolio holdings are provided by the custodian banks V-BANK, DAB BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Baader Bank and Donner & Reuschel and are consolidated and processed in part with the help of the wealth management software platform from QPLIX, the leading specialist for digital asset management. The overall evaluation, on which the interpretation of the analysis is based, is made up of the criteria groups "portfolio structure", "product implementation", "risk management", "cost efficiency" and "performance".
QPLIX is a leading provider of a holistic software solution for digital wealth management. Founded in 2012 by Kai Linde, Philipp Pötzl and Mathias Lindermeir, the software company's SaaS platform is used by asset managers, family offices, foundations, funds and institutional investors worldwide. The WealthTech software is currently used to manage assets worth over 300 billion euros. QPLIX supports all liquid and illiquid asset classes and complex legal structures. The company thus enables financial experts to manage their portfolios holistically and efficiently. At its headquarters in Munich and selected international locations, an interdisciplinary team of over 140 software developers and financial experts ensures the continuous development of the platform and user satisfaction.
Institut für Vermögensaufbau (IVA) AG is an independent company that promotes wealth accumulation for private investors. It is committed to transparency and the improvement of financial services. IVA offers research and advisory services, studies and the certification of high-quality portfolios, products and advisory processes for financial service providers and professional investors. The IVA team combines recognised scientific methods with a high degree of practical orientation and a network of leading partners and proven specialists in the financial sector in order to achieve relevant results of the highest quality. Since 2005, the institute has been certifying portfolios from a risk/return perspective and, since 2019, also from a sustainability perspective. The IVA conducts numerous studies, particularly in the areas of private banking, asset management and retirement provision, many of them in collaboration with renowned media partners such as business magazines, TV stations and newspapers. The Institute thus makes quality visible and understandable for private investors.
Jill Stäbe has been part of QPLIX GmbH since 2020. Originally working in Client Success Management, she has always worked closely with various internal and external stakeholders and now draws on broad expertise regarding the platform and its users. As part of the marketing team, she is therefore primarily responsible for product-specific topics, as well as the company's social media presence and press relations.
