Fund market sees strong first half of the year with total net retail sales of £24 billion
The first half of 2021 has seen total net retail sales of £24 billion, the highest level of half-year sales since 2017, which saw record levels of investment, June data published today by the Investment Association (IA) reveals. The other key findings for June include:
- Tracker funds enjoyed continued strong inflows in June, with net retail sales of £2.2 billion.
- Responsible Investment funds saw over £1 billion of inflows in June, and a total of £4 billion for Q2 – the highest quarterly inflows since IA data was first collected.
- As inflation rises, the newly launched Global Inflation Linked Bonds sector was the highest selling fixed income sector at £214 million. This inflow is 4% of the sector’s FUM of £5.6 billion.
- Total net retail sales for June were £4.2 billion.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said: “The positive inflows for the first half of the year are a clear sign of the strong economic recovery and growing investor confidence as we emerge from the pandemic. If the pace of net sales continues at the same rate, we could be on track to match the record-breaking inflows of 2017. However, investors also have one eye on inflation, which may have a greater impact in the second half of the year.
“Investors looking for lower cost ways to save have continued to put their money into tracker funds. The difference in the data has been steady sales to active funds following March 2020’s outflow, helping flows to reach a record H1 total. Elsewhere, the strong quarterly inflows into responsible investment funds are the highest since the data was first collected.”
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
|
|
Funds Under Management |
Net Retail Sales |
Net Institutional Sales |
|
June 2021 |
£1.5 trillion |
£4.2 billion |
£199 billion |
|
June 2020 |
£1.3 trillion |
£2.1 billion |
-£202 billion |
BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS
The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for June 2021 were:
- Global was first with net retail sales of £1.1 billion.
- Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares was second with net retail sales of £910 million.
- Volatility Managed followed with net retail sales of £363 million.
- Global Inflation Linked Bond was fourth with net retail sales of £214 million.
- Europe Excluding UK was fifth with net retail sales of £212 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in June 2021 was Short Term Money Market with an outflow of £389 million.
NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS
Equity was the best-selling asset class in June 2021 with £2.2 billion in net retail sales.
Fixed Income was the second best-selling asset class, with £986 million of inflows.
Mixed Asset funds experienced £935 million of inflows.
Other funds (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed, and Unclassified sectors) experienced £469 million of net retail sales.
Money Market funds however experienced net retail outflows in June of £369 million.
Property funds experienced £18 million in net retail outflows.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*
Global was the best-selling equity fund region in June 2021, with net retail sales of £1.1 billion.
Europe funds were second, seeing net retail inflows of £247 million.
North America funds saw net retail inflows of £184 million.
Japan funds experienced net retail inflows of £107 million.
Asia funds experienced net retail inflows of £72 million.
UK funds was the only equity fund region that experienced outflows, with net retail sales of -£77 million.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw a net retail inflow of £2.2 billion in June 2021. Tracker funds under management stood at £278 billion as of the end of June. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 18.2%.
RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS
Responsible investment funds saw a net retail inflow of £1.2 billion in June 2021. Responsible investment funds under management stood at £78 billion as of the end of June. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 5.1%.
GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
In June, gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £14 billion, representing a market share of 51.3%.
Gross retail sales through Other UK Intermediaries including IFAs were £7 billion, representing a market share of 25.8%.
Direct gross retail sales in June were £1 billion, representing a market share of 4.0%.
For further information, please contact:
Katie Martin, Head of Communications: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4655
Clive Booth, Communications Manager: [email protected]
Camilla Esmund, Communications Executive: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4625
IA press office: [email protected]
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:
|
Asia |
Europe |
Global |
Japan |
North America |
UK |
|
Asia Pacific excl. Japan |
Europe excl. UK |
Global |
Japan |
North America |
UK All Companies |
|
Asia Pacific incl. Japan |
Europe incl. UK |
Global Emerging Markets |
Japanese Smaller Companies |
North America Smaller Companies |
UK Equity Income |
|
China/Greater China |
Europe Smaller Companies |
Global Equity Income |
UK Smaller Companies |
||
|
Specialist |
|||||
|
Technology and Telecommunications |
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, Quilter 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 35% of all assets managed in Europe.
