Fund market maintains momentum as £1.6 billion invested in July
UK savers put £1.6 billion into retail funds in July, according to latest figures published today by the Investment Association (IA). The other key findings:
- Bond funds saw net retail sales of £1.8 billion in July; the Global Bond sector was the best-selling sector with £693 million invested;
- Equity funds experienced outflows of £609 million, driven by UK equities;
- Responsible Investment funds experienced another month of strong net retail sales with £966 million invested in July;
- Tracker funds saw net retail inflows of £1.4 billion in July.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said:
"The fund market maintained a steady course in July as savers invested £1.6 billion. Bond funds took pole position, with net retail sales close to £2 billion for the third consecutive month, as investors sought out new sources of income.”
“Responsible investment funds have sustained their strong appeal during the coronavirus pandemic, with savers investing almost £1 billion for the third time since April.”
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
| Funds Under Management | Net Retail Sales | Net Institutional Sales | |
| July 2020 | £1.3 trillion | £1.6 billion | £5.7 billion |
| July 2019 | £1.3 trillion | £640 million | -£2.2 billion |
BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS
The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for July 2020 were:
- Global Bonds was first with net retail sales of £693 million.
- £ Corporate Bond was second with net retail sales of £691 million.
- Global followed with net retail sales of £640 million.
- Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares was fourth with net retail sales of £515 million.
- Volatility Managed was fifth with net retail sales of £222 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in July 2020 was Specialist with an outflow of £476 million.
NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS
Fixed Income was the best-selling asset class in June 2020 with £1.8 billion in net retail sales.
Mixed Asset was the second best-selling asset class, with £608 million of inflows.
Other funds (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed, and Unclassified sectors) experienced £226 million of inflows.
All other asset classes experienced outflows with property funds experiencing £10 million in net retail outflows in July.
Money Market funds followed with net retail outflows in £415 million.
Equity funds saw £609 million of net retail outflows.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*
Asia was the best-selling equity fund region in July, with net retail sales of £253 million.
Global funds were second, seeing net retail inflows of £124 million.
Europe funds came next with net retail inflows of £94 million.
North America funds experienced net retail inflows of £44 million.
Japan funds saw net retail outflows in July of £53 million.
UK funds saw net retail outflows of £912 million.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw a net retail inflow of £1.4 billion in July 2020.
Tracker funds under management stood at £229 billion as of the end of July. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 17.8%.
RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS
Responsible investment funds saw a net retail inflow of £966 million in July 2020.
Responsible investment funds under management stood at £34 billion as of the end of July. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 2.7%.
GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
In July, gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £12.2 billion, representing a market share of 50%.
Gross retail sales through Other UK Intermediaries including IFAs were £6.2 billion, representing a market share of 25%.
Direct gross retail sales in June were £1.2 billion, representing a market share of 5%.
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 to 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 £7.7 trillion of assets and the investment 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.
