Key takeaways
- Investor redemptions are one factor behind asset sales by open-ended mutual funds, but an important additional factor is the selling due to the funds' liquidity management.
- Funds holding illiquid assets reacted to redemptions in March 2020 by adding to their cash buffers even after meeting investor redemptions. For such funds, asset sales exceeded investor redemptions.
- Increases in end-of-period cash holdings were less pronounced for funds that started the stress period with larger buffers, suggesting that such funds were less prone to selling at the height of the stress.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the BIS or its member central banks.
