Fund market hits record highs on the back of vaccine breakthrough and clear US election outcome
November 2020 was a month of record highs for the fund market as savers invested £8.3 billion. Key findings from the month include:
- Net retail sales reached a record monthly high of £8.3 billion, half of which went into equity funds. This beats the previous record of £5.7 billion net retail sales from September 2017.
- Responsible investment funds continued to experience strong inflows, with a new monthly high of £1.1 billion net retail sales.
- Both active and tracker funds experienced record monthly inflows in November 2020 of £5.3 billion and £3 billion, respectively.
- The IA’s Global sector saw a record £1.7 billion monthly inflow.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said:
“Savers’ confidence was boosted by news of the coronavirus vaccine breakthrough and a clear outcome in the US election with a record £8.3 billion placed into funds in November 2020. Equity funds benefited most with £4.1 billion invested, while strong inflows into global equity and responsible investment funds continued as both broke new record monthly highs. Given the rocky start to 2021 with surging coronavirus cases, it remains to be seen whether investor confidence will continue into the new year.”
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
|
|
Funds Under Management |
Net Retail Sales |
Net Institutional Sales |
|
November 2020 |
£1.4 trillion |
£8.3 billion |
£2.1 billion |
|
November 2019 |
£1.3 trillion |
£3 billion |
£2.8 billion |
BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS
The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for November 2020 were:
- Global was first with net retail sales of £1.7 billion.
- Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares was second with net retail sales of £993 million.
- Global Bonds followed with net retail sales of £911 million.
Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares was fourth with net retail sales of £579 million. - North America was fifth with net retail sales of £533 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in November 2020 was UK All Companies with an outflow of £425 million.
NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS
Equity funds were the best-selling asset class in November 2020 with £4.1 billion in net retail sales.
Mixed Asset was the second best-selling asset class, with £2.3 billion of inflows.
Fixed Income experienced £1.2 billion of inflows.
Money Market funds experienced £538 million in net retail inflows.
Other funds (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed, and Unclassified sectors) experienced £265 million of net retail inflows.
However, Property funds experienced net retail outflows in November of £147 million.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*
Global was the best-selling equity fund region in November 2020, with net retail sales of £1.7 billion.
Asia funds were second, seeing net retail inflows of £688 million.
North America funds came next with net retail inflows in November of £642 million.
Europe funds experienced net retail inflows of £244 million.
Japan funds saw net retail inflows of £156 million.
UK funds however saw net retail outflows of £461 million.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw a net retail inflow of £3 billion in November 2020. Tracker funds under management stood at £251 billion as of the end of November. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 17.9%.
RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS
Responsible investment funds saw a net retail inflow of £1.1 billion in November 2020. Responsible investment funds under management stood at £43 billion as of the end of November. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 3%.
GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
In November, gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £15 billion, representing a market share of 47%.
Gross retail sales through Other UK Intermediaries including IFAs were £8.8 billion, representing a market share of 27%.
Direct gross retail sales in November were £2.2 billion, representing a market share of 7%.
For further information, please contact:
Katie Martin, Head of Communications: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4655
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 investment management, supporting British savers, investors and businesses. Our 250 members manage £8.5 trillion of assets and the investment management industry supports 113,000 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 over a third (37%) of all assets managed in Europe.
