In Funds Europe's first of a regular series of fund launch overviews, George Mitton identifies the product focus and trends of the nine months to 31 March 2011. Who launched the most funds? Which asset classes were most favoured? Should alternative Ucits vehicles be described as hedge funds? In two related articles George seeks the answers.

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A number of fund managers that are less well known outside their American homeland have embarked on a push into the European institutional and wholesale funds business. Nick Fitzpatrick and Angele Spiteri Paris speak to some of them about their timing

With increased assets under management in the European fund and asset management business, Fiona Rintoul asks if the industry has recovered from the financial meltdown

The deadline for fund managers to produce Key Investor Information Documents looms large. Angele Spiteri Paris writes about the challenges and how this exercise compares with the one that spawned the simplified prospectus

Fund categorisation is anything but easy – yet it is more important now that Ucits products must produce a risk-reward indicator. Rudolf Siebel and Michael Pirl, of the German trade body BVI, discuss what action to take

Low-volatility equity strategies eschew growth to offer downside protection. But Nick Fitzpatrick finds the forfeit might not be so great after all

Overheating emerging market economies are exporting inflation to the rest of the world. But as investors’ inflation expectations rise, so does the cost of protection, finds George Mitton

The regulatory emphasis that has been placed on the oversight of the manager since the beginning of the financial crisis, and even before that, cannot be overstated

Now that the industry has largely accepted the benefit of automating cross-border orders, efforts are focusing on standardisation in processes. Nicholas Pratt examines the challenges involved

Nicholas Pratt looks at an initiative to trade investment funds on Germany’s stock exchange that could bring down costs associated with transfer agency