Equities feel the heat with £1.6bn of outflows in August
Thursday 3 October 2019
The Investment Association (IA), the trade body that represents UK investment managers, has today published figures on how savers invested in August 2019.
- Net retail sales were negative in August, with the biggest outflows since November 2018 as £1.7 billion was removed from UK funds.
- Mixed asset was the highest selling asset class in August with net retail sales of £706 million, while Equities saw outflows of £1.6 billion.
- Mixed Investment 40-85% was the best-selling IA Sector in August with net retail sales of £388 million.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said:
“Savers took almost £1.7 billion out of the funds market in August, with equities feeling the heat this summer after a third consecutive month of outflows, totalling £3.2 billion.
“As in previous months, diversification remained savers’ top priority. Mixed asset funds saw the highest level of inflows since the start of the year, with £706 million invested in August. Savers’ appetite for risk-focused solutions also continued to grow, with the IA’s Volatility Managed sector seeing healthy inflows of £230 million in August.”
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS
The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for August 2019 were:
1. Mixed Investments 40-85% Shares was first with net retail sales of £388 million.
2. Volatility Managed was second with net retail sales of £230 million.
3. Global Bonds followed with net retail sales of £214 million.
4. Global Emerging Markets Bond was fourth with net retail sales of £154 million.
5. Mixed Investment 0-35% Shares was fifth with net retail sales of £146 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in August 2019 was £ Strategic Bond with an outflow of £756 million.
NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS
Mixed Asset was the best-selling asset class in August 2019 with £706 million in net retail sales.
Other (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed, Protected and Unclassified sectors) was the second best-selling asset class with £168 million of inflows.
Money Market was the third best-selling asset class with £36 million in net retail sales.
All other asset classes saw outflows.
Property saw net retail outflows of £91 million in August.
Fixed Income and Equity experienced net retail outflows of £968 million and £1.6 billion, respectively.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*
North America funds were the best-selling in August with net retail sales of £70 million. All the remaining equity regions experienced outflows.
Asia funds saw net retail outflows of £104 million in August.
Japan funds experienced net retail outflows of £122 million.
Global funds saw net retail outflows of £432 million, followed by Europe funds which experienced net retail outflows of £536 million.
UK funds experienced net retail outflows of £697 million.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw a net retail inflow of £1.2 billion in August 2019. Tracker funds under management stood at £215 billion as of the end of August. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 17%.
ETHICAL FUNDS
Ethical funds saw a net retail inflow of £232 million in August 2019. Ethical funds under management stood at £20 billion as of the end of August. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 1.6%.
GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
In August, gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £10 billion, representing a market share of 50%.
Gross retail sales through Other UK Intermediaries including IFAs were £5 billion, representing a market share of 25%.
Direct gross retail sales in August were £1.5 billion, representing a market share of 7%.
-ENDS-
For further information, please contact:
Helen Ayres, Communications Manager: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4620
David Parton, Communications Executive: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4625
IA press office: [email protected]
T: 020 7269 4696
Notes for Editors
To see a breakdown of the data referenced in this press release, please see all of the tables here.
The Investment Association's figures for fund sales cover retail and institutional sales in authorised unit trusts and open ended investment companies (OEICs) provided by our membership to UK investors. The figures do not include investment trusts and ETFs.
Each month small revisions to figures have been made since the previous press release. This reflects additional information received by The Investment Association.
Net retail sales comprise total retail sales minus repurchases (including switches between funds), thus the figures can result in a negative figure or outflow.
* Regional breakdown for equity funds
The following Investment Association sectors have been grouped together to compile the figures for regional equity sales:
Direct Channels
Direct includes sales forces and tied agents, private clients and other direct to investor sales without intermediation.
** The Investment Association’s ISA figures are based on information collected from fund companies and five fund platforms (AEGON, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Old Mutual Wealth and Transact) where they are the ISA provider. Fund business through other ISA providers such as wealth managers is not included. The Investment Association’s figures cover about three-quarters of the whole of the market for funds held in ISAs.
About the Investment Association (IA):
- The IA champions UK asset management, supporting British savers, investors and businesses. Our 250 members manage £7.7 trillion of assets and the asset management industry supports 115,000 jobs across the UK.
- Our mission is to make investment better. Better for clients, so they achieve their financial goals. Better for companies, so they get the capital they need to grow. And better for the economy, so everyone prospers.
- Our purpose is to ensure investment managers are in the best possible position to:
- Build people’s resilience to financial adversity
- Help people achieve their financial aspirations
- Enable people to maintain a decent standard of living as they grow older
- Contribute to economic growth through the efficient allocation of capital.
- The money our members manage is in a wide variety of investment vehicles including authorised investment funds, pension funds and stocks and shares ISAs.
- The UK is the second largest investment management centre in the world, after the US and manages 37% of all assets managed in Europe.
