Savers invest £1.6bn, but remain alert to risk
Thursday 9 January 2020
UK savers invested £1.6 billion in retail funds in November 2019 according to latest figures published today by the Investment Association (IA).
- Net retail sales into tracker funds increased by £400 million on October 2019, reaching £2.3 billion in November.
- UK equity funds saw their best month of net retail sales since May 2019, with £108 million in inflows in November.
- Volatility Managed was the best-selling IA Sector in November, with £411 million in net retail sales – the first time it has reached the number one position.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said:
“Amid the noise of the general election campaign, savers invested £1.6 billion into funds in November, with UK equity funds seeing their first inflows since May. Investors however maintained a keen interest in risk management, with sales of volatility managed funds reaching a new record at more than double the average monthly inflows since the sector launched at £411 million, and accounting for a quarter of all fund sales.”
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS
The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for November 2019 were:
1. Volatility Managed was first with net retail sales of £411 million.
2. Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares was second with net retail sales of £299 million.
3. North America followed with net retail sales of £292 million.
4. Global Emerging Markets was fourth with net retail sales of £240 million.
5. Global was fifth with net retail sales of £166 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in November 2019 was Targeted Absolute Return with an outflow of £656 million.
NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS
Mixed Asset was the best-selling asset class in November 2019 with £1.3 billion in net retail sales.
Equity was the second best-selling asset class with £530 million of inflows.
Fixed Income was the third best-selling asset class with £138 million in net retail sales.
All other asset classes experienced outflows, with Property experiencing outflows of £13 million.
Money Market experienced outflows of £104 million, and Other (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed and Unclassified sectors) experienced net retail outflows of £184 million.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*
North America was the best selling equity fund region in November 2019, with net retail sales of £299 million.
Japan funds was the second best selling with net retail sales of £144 million.
UK funds saw net retail sales of £108 million in November.
All the other equity regions experienced outflows.
Global funds experienced net retail outflows of £7 million, while Asia funds experienced net retail outflows of £9 million.
Europe funds experienced net retail outflows of £135 million.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw a net retail inflow of £2.3 billion in November 2019. Tracker funds under management stood at £225 billion as of the end of November. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 18%.
RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS
Responsible Investment funds saw a net retail inflow of £362 million in November 2019. Responsible Investment funds under management stood at £26 billion as of the end of November. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 2%.
GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
In November, gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £11 billion, representing a market share of 50%.
Gross retail sales through Other UK Intermediaries including IFAs were £6 billion, representing a market share of 27%.
Direct gross retail sales in November were £1.5 billion, representing a market share of 7%.
- ENDS-
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 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.
