Iran’s market for professional money management is expanding rapidly. Total assets held by mutual funds rose threefold in the first two quarters of the current Iranian year (started March 21), an official with Securities and Exchange Organization’s Financial Institutions Department told IRNA. Their total assets rose to 218.4 trillion rials ($6.1 billion at market exchange rate) from a low base of 70.1 trillion rials six months earlier. Siavash Parvizi-Nejad said 13 new mutual funds were registered during the period. One fund, Mohebban Nineveh, was liquidated.
Most of the increase in assets came from the rise in the assets of bond funds, which have been quite profitable, contrary to the dismal state of equity funds that are suffering from a bear market.
As of September 22, 148 mutual funds are active in Iran. The number of registered traders also jumped to 334,924 by the end of the second quarter from 169,114 at the start of the year.
