BVI

BVI publishes the investment statistics of the German fund market every quarter. On June 30, 2026, the net assets of all funds in the German market came to 5,199 billion euros, after 4,856 billion euros at the end of March. Open-ended retail funds took in 79.4 billion euros net in the first half of 2026: 38.3 billion went into equity funds and 10.6 billion into bond funds. In the same half of 2025, bond funds had taken in 22.9 billion euros.

BVI calculates the performance of investment funds with its own method, the BVI method, which is based on the time-weighted rate of return. Performance is the percentage change between the amount invested at the start of a period and its value at the end, computed from the unit prices set on every trading day. Distributions count as if they were reinvested in new fund units on the day of payment, so distributing and accumulating funds can be compared.

The results are net of all fund costs, such as the management fee and audit costs. They leave out the front-end load, because its size depends on the sales channel and the amount invested, and BVI gives a formula for deducting the load (in German) that an investor actually paid. A unit price is the net asset value of the fund divided by the number of units issued.

Since June 2022, German funds set up as Sondervermögen may issue crypto fund units: electronic units recorded in a crypto securities register, which usually runs on a blockchain. BVI commented on the draft of this ordinance, the KryptoFAV. It asked that crypto fund units (in German) may be issued alongside certificated units or as an additional unit class, and that the fund company may keep the register as well as the depositary.

In April 2025 BVI answered a BaFin consultation on the duties of depositaries and fund companies whose funds invest in crypto assets. BVI asked for a clear line (in German) between DLT-based financial instruments and crypto assets under MiCA, and pointed out that the draft did not deal with e-money tokens and stablecoins. Both statements concern how tokenized funds fit into German fund law.

BVI holds more than 40 events a year, and the largest is the BVI Asset Management Konferenz in Frankfurt, where representatives of asset managers discuss market developments and regulation. Other formats include the BVI Fund Operations Conference, the Risk Management Day, an investment day with Goethe University and basics seminars such as "Investment funds in one day".

Thomas Richter is the chief executive of BVI, and Rudolf Siebel is its managing director. The members' meeting of the association elects the board for a term of two years. Its president is Matthias Liermann of DWS, and the other members are Sonja Albers of Union Investment, Dirk Degenhardt of Deka Vermögensmanagement, Mathias Heiß of Universal Investment, Fabian Klingler of Aberdeen Investments, Thomas Schindler of Allianz Global Investors and Jörg Stotz of Hansainvest.

The head office is at An der Welle 4, 60322 Frankfurt am Main. BVI also has an office in Berlin at Unter den Linden 42 and one in Brussels at Rue Belliard 15-17.