<p>Previous studies in mutual funds were focused mainly on the US market. The general belief is thatmutual funds in average cannot outperform the market. We decided to test this theory in the lessstudied markets of equity funds in Sweden and Germany. Another controversial point is fees inmutual funds. Therefore we will give an overview of fees in both markets, and analyze the relationbetween fees and performance.This study analyzes the Swedish and the German mutual funds market. For the German market,funds with domicile in Germany and abroad are analyzed separately in order to examine possibledifferences between funds with a domestic domicile, and funds domiciled abroad.1285 funds performances covering period of 2000-2008 were calculated using Jensen’s Alphameasure. The results showed that all funds have on average negative alphas. Approximately 20% offunds in the German market and 12% of the funds in the Swedish market have significantlynegative performance.Regarding fees, there is only a small difference between funds in the German and the Swedishmarket in general, while the difference between funds domiciled in Germany and Luxembourg wassignificantly bigger.Our analysis of the relation between fees and performance showed no significant relationship.</p>

Previous studies in mutual funds were focused mainly on the US market. The general belief is thatmutual funds in average cannot outperform the market. We decided to test this theory in the lessstudied markets of equity funds in Sweden and Germany. Another controversial point is fees inmutual funds. Therefore we will give an overview of fees in both markets, and analyze the relationbetween fees and performance.This study analyzes the Swedish and the German mutual funds market. For the German market,funds with domicile in Germany and abroad are analyzed separately in order to examine possibledifferences between funds with a domestic domicile, and funds domiciled abroad.1285 funds performances covering period of 2000-2008 were calculated using Jensen’s Alphameasure. The results showed that all funds have on average negative alphas. Approximately 20% offunds in the German market and 12% of the funds in the Swedish market have significantlynegative performance.Regarding fees, there is only a small difference between funds in the German and the Swedishmarket in general, while the difference between funds domiciled in Germany and Luxembourg wassignificantly bigger.Our analysis of the relation between fees and performance showed no significant relationship.