07
Apr
2022

Rising inflation and escalating Ukraine crisis fuels £2.5bn fund outflows

Intense market uncertainty around rising inflation and tensions between Russia and Ukraine saw outflows from retail funds accelerate to £2.5 billion in February 2022, up from £1.2 billion in January, according to data published today by the Investment Association (IA).

Other key findings for February 2022 include:

  • Fixed Income funds saw outflows of £2.4 billion, as bond investors responded to rapidly rising inflation in the UK and other developed markets.
  • North America was the best-selling IA sector in February with inflows of £570 million. At the same time the largest IA sector by funds under management – Global – experienced a small outflow of £3.4 billion.
  • Tracker fund inflows doubled in February, reaching £1.3 billion - up from £672 million.
  • Responsible investment funds saw reasonable net retail inflows of £670 million despite challenging market conditions.

Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association said:

“High inflation and growing economic uncertainty provided an uncomfortable backdrop for escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine throughout February. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine contributed to already strong market turbulence, which saw £2.5 billion of retail savings flowing out of funds in February.

“Outflows from equity funds calmed in comparison to January, with investors instead focusing on taking money out of bond funds as inflation continued to rise. The full economic impact, including the long-term market impacts of western sanctions and supply chain disruption, will only become clear in the months ahead.”

FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES 

                                 

Funds Under Management  

Net Retail Sales  

Net Institutional Sales  

February 2022   

£1.5 trillion 

-£2.5 billion 

-£840 million 

February 2021

£1.4 trillion 

£2.3 billion

-£2.2 billion 

BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS   

The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for February 2022 were: 

  1. North America with net retail sales of £570 million.
  2. Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares was second with net retail sales of £256 million.
  3. Global Emerging Market Bond – Hard Currency followed with net retail sales of £250 million.
  4. Short Term Money Market was fourth with net retail sales of £245 million.
  5. Volatility Managed was fifth with £213 million.
     

The worst-selling Investment Association sector in February 2022 was UK All Companies, which experienced outflows of £503 million. 

NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS 

Money Market funds was the best-selling asset class in February 2022, with £139 million in net retail sales. 

Other funds (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed, and Unclassified sectors) was the second best-selling asset class, with £25 million of inflows. 

Equity funds saw £47 million in outflows in February 2022.

Property was fourth with outflows of £75 million.  

Mixed Asset saw £182 million in outflows in February 2022.

Fixed Income funds saw £2.4 billion of outflows.

NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION* 

North America was the best-selling equity fund region in February 2022, with net retail sales of £588 million.

Global was second with net retail sales of £322 million. 

All other equity regions experienced outflows.

Asia funds saw £141 million in outflows, while Europe funds saw outflows of £142 million.

Japan funds saw outflows of £156 million, and UK funds saw outflows of £990 million.

TRACKER FUNDS 

Tracker funds saw a net retail inflow of £1.3 billion in February 2022. Tracker funds under management stood at £289 billion as of the end of February. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 19.3%. 

RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS 

Responsible investment funds saw a net retail inflow of £670 million in February 2022. Responsible investment funds under management stood at £82 billion as of the end of February. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 5.5%. 

GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL 

In February, gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £13.3 billion, representing a market share of 52.7%.  

Gross retail sales through Other UK Intermediaries including IFAs were £6.6 billion, representing a market share of 26.2%.  

Direct gross retail sales in February were £1 billion, representing a market share of 4.1%.  

For further information, please contact: 

Arianna Schardt, Communications Executive: [email protected]

T: +44 7548841289 

Katie Martin, Head of Communications: [email protected] 

T: +44 (0)20 7269 4625 

IA press office: [email protected] 

Notes for Editors:

This data includes the six new sectors launched from the Investment Association’s (IA) Global and Specialist sectors on Monday 13 September 2021. 

Currently, the two sectors are among the largest within the classification scheme, with 471 funds included within the IA Global sector and 332 in the IA Specialist sector. As the retail fund market evolves and grows, the creation of the new sectors will help investors to more easily find similar types of funds. The decision to create the new sectors was taken by the IA Sectors Committee after a public consultation with the industry and sector users.  

New country - regional equity sectors:  

  • Latin America
  • India/Indian Subcontinent

Industry sectors: 

  • Financials and Financial Innovation
  • Healthcare

Alternative investment approaches: 

  • Infrastructure
  • Commodity/Natural Resources

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

India/Indian Subcontinent

 

Specialist

 

 

 

 

 

Healthcare

 

 

 

 

 

Technology and Techology innovation

 

 

 

 

 

Financials and Financial innovation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 270 members manage £9.4 trillion of assets and the investment management industry supports 114,000 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.