$250 billion in net flows to equity and fixed-income funds in the first half of 2009, the best performance for stocks in any quarter since the late 1990s and the 20th consecutive week of positive long-term mutual fund flows through mid-August 2009 helped draw investors cautiously back into investments. Especially emerging markets and Asia are described as having turned the corner to once again lead the way as a growth driver for the industry.

Emerging Market Aggregate Demand Transforms Distribution Landscape:

“Emerging markets are providing an increasing portion of our sales revenue”, Europacorp CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet said in a recent FT article, emphasizing that aggregate demand from emerging markets is transforming the landscape for distribution.

This could have been a statement from an asset management CEO, but in this case Baronnet was talking about film distribution. Europacorp was founded by Luc Besson and a recent animated movie, “Arthur & the Invisibles” (with Robert de Niro, David Bowie, and Snoop Dogg), brought in about $115 million at the box office worldwide, despite an only lackluster contribution of $15 million from the US.

Focusing on movies with cross-border appeal, Europacorp plans to produce more “melting-pot” movies, mixing actors and cultures in non-traditional ways. The importance of emerging markets and the success of “melting-pot” funds also dominated the global fund industry of late.

All of the ten best selling new fund launches in both May and June globally came from Asia. In June 2009, those ten funds, highlighted below, attracted in excess of $7 billion combined. Noticeably, almost all of the Japanese offerings were co-branded “melting-pot” funds, mixing actors and cultural themes, among them Nomura Pictet Genome, Nomura RCM Green Tech or Fortis Nikko China Equity.

For the full blog, including data tables, charts and a closer look at new vs. old, themes vs. asset allocation and developed vs. emerging, please visit Case Interactive Media