Mutual funds investment has been always among the first choices of many “not so much accredited investors” all around the globe. Statistics for social participation in said funds on developed countries is a fact for that. Considering Iran’s situation, especially to foreigners who might get caught in the middle of direct market access and the lack of English based platforms hurdles, Iranian Mutual Funds are one the best way to have the required exposure to Iranian capital market.

This article is to set up to the date figures and facts on Iranian Mutual funds in order for international investors to have a better image of what is going on in the industry.

First, we have to address the diversity of mutual funds in Iran. Putting aside all the types they have (fixed income, equity, balanced, ETF and market making) the real focus shall be on the number of established funds in Iran. As of today, there are 194 funds registered with Iran SEO with the following formation:

As of June 11, 2018, the Asset Under Management (AUM) of those funds reaches IRR 1,483,056.2 bn (USD 35.12 bn) which of course the share of fixed income funds is by far higher than any other type. The below diagram demonstrates the details better:

Despite the fact that they are little in size, equity mutual funds have performed handsomely on an annual basis (YoY to date). The below table shows top 10 best performing funds:

A deeper look into Iranian Mutual Funds investment portfolio composition shows that a huge part of their assets is dedicated to Bank deposits and cash. Recent trends have proven the fact that parts of this huge pie crumb are to enter the equity market which also according to new SEO bylaws is a necessity. As of June 11, 2018, the below pie chart is the composition of total funds in Iran:

According to Iranian laws, the below financial institutions can sit as the manager of mutual funds:

• Investment Banks (IB)
• Brokerage Houses
• Investment Consulting firms (IC)
• Asset Management firms (AM)
• Financial Groups

The following table shows the top 10 fund managers in Iran’s capital market:

Source:

2018, Iranian Mutual Funds; opportunities to look for!, Wednesday, June 13, p.1,<https://agahgroup.com>