Signs are emerging that the rush for the exits by panic-stricken investors may have run its course, raising hopes that 2009 will be a far brighter year for the global fund management industry than the grim 2008. (PDF)

European investors withdrew a net €416bn ($588bn, £407bn) from investment funds (excluding low-margin money market funds) be­tween June 2007 and September 2008, according to data from Lipper FMI. Combined with market falls, this saw the continent’s assets under management plunge by 28 per cent to €3,200bn, even before a further haemorrhaging of money in October.