Mutual Fund Industry Competition and Concentration: International Evidence

Abstract

This paper examines mutual fund industry competition and concentration in 27 countries using a sample of almost 50,000 mutual funds. The indicators show that the mutual fund industry is concentrated worldwide and some industries present large fund complexes. Countries with common law and higher stock market turnover are associated with low level industry concentration. There is more industry contestability in countries with better quality of institutions and where regulation is more open. Bank concentration and simultaneous restrictions to engage new activities in the financial industry tend to decrease firm entry in the mutual fund industry. The launch of new funds is positively related with openness of regulation and negatively related with industry age. The overall level of fees tend to be higher in countries with low stock market turnover, where industry size is smaller and where foreign mutual fund companies have a larger market share. Moreover, fund proliferation seems to be an important aspect of competition as it is negatively related with mutual fund fees. Overall, the results do not indicate a direct relation between competition and concentration, similar to the findings for the banking industry. Nevertheless, our evidence validates the contention that the degree of competition is important for the variety of products as we find a larger offer of funds in more competitive industries.