The European Fund Classification (EFC) has “significantly” expanded its coverage of investment funds by more than 62,000 to nearly 180,000 fund share classes across Europe.

The pan-European classification system of investment funds, overseen by industry trade body EFAMA, revealed that the vast majority European funds now have an EFC classification.

This expansion includes several novel fund categories, with the EFC seeking to account for recent market evolutions.

At the most granular level, there are more than 880 fund sub-categories included in the EFC.

In this most recent update, the EFC added crypto asset funds, FX funds, and ultra-short bond funds to its fund classification coverage.

The EFC is a classification scheme that is owned and managed solely by the fund industry, and is free to use for fund groups/managers and data users.

The classification process is done on a non-monetary basis, with results available for all interested parties through the EFC webpage or bespoke feeds.

Commenting on the announcement, EFAMA senior economist, Thomas Tilley, said: “The recent leap in the number of EFC classified funds further establishes it as the credible and comprehensive fund classification scheme for Europe.

“In the current value for money discussions, it looks possible that some form of peer comparison to evaluate whether funds are indeed providing value for money will be mandated.

“The EFC, as the only industry-driven, transparent and fully objective pan-European fund classification scheme, could form the basis of such a peer comparison.”

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