02
May
2019

Savers look to diversify risk with Global equity & Mixed Asset funds benefiting in Q1

Thursday 2 May 2019

The Investment Association (IA), the trade body that represents UK asset managers, has today published figures on how savers invested in March.

  • Net retail sales were negative in March, with £205 million of outflows from UK authorised and recognised funds, whilst Fixed Income experienced net retail sales of £810 million in March – the highest since January 2018.
  • Global was the best-selling sector with £691 million in net retail sales; March was the largest inflow into the IA Global sector on record.
  • Net retail sales into Tracker funds reached £951 million in March.

Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said:

“Despite a bumpy start to the year, which saw £2.4 billion of outflows in the first quarter, funds under management increased to £1.2 trillion, buoyed by fund performance.

“Ongoing economic and Brexit uncertainty continued to impact Europe and UK equity funds, with savers pulling out £1.4 billion and £816 million, respectively, since the start of the year.

“Savers have turned towards Global equity funds and Mixed Asset funds in the first quarter, whilst Fixed Income funds have seen a return to inflows.”

FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES

 

BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS

The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for March 2019 were:

  • Global was the best-selling sector with net retail sales of £691 million.
  • £ Strategic Bond was second with net retail sales of £526 million.
  • Global Bonds was next with net retail sales of £236 million.
  • Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares followed with net retail sales of £231 million.
  • UK Gilts was fifth with net retail sales of £108 million.

The worst-selling Investment Association sector in March 2019 was Europe Excluding UK with an outflow of £412 million.

NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS

Fixed Income was the best-selling asset class with £810 million in net retail sales.

Money Market was the second best-selling asset class with net retail sales of £127 million.

Property saw net retail sales of £11 million in March.

The remaining asset classes experienced outflows.

Mixed Asset saw net retail outflows of £130 million, followed by funds classified as Other (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed, Protected and Unclassified sectors) with net retail outflows of £394 million in March.

Equity funds experienced outflows of £630 million.

NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*

Global funds were the best-selling in March with net retail sales of £359 million.

Japan funds were the next best-selling with net retail sales of £74 million.

The remaining regions experienced outflows.

North America funds saw net retail outflows of £6 million, followed by Asia funds which experienced net retail outflows of £133 million.

UK and Europe funds experienced net retail outflows of £445 million and £478 million, respectively.

TRACKER FUNDS

Tracker funds saw a net retail inflow of £951 million. Tracker funds under management stood at £194 billion as of the end of March 2019. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 16.1%.

ETHICAL FUNDS

Ethical funds experienced net retail outflows of £69 million in March 2019. Funds under management were £17 billion at the end of March, representing a 1.4% share of industry funds under management.

GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

In March, gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £10 billion, representing a market share of 49.1%.

Other Intermediaries including UK IFAs made gross retail sales of £5 billion, representing a market share of 23.9%.

Direct gross retail sales in March were £1.5 billion, representing a market share of 7.2%.

 

-ENDS-

For further information, please contact:

Helen Ayres, Media Relations Manager: [email protected]

T +44 (0)20 7269 4620; M +44 (0)7508 724 066

David Parton, Communications Executive: [email protected]

T +44 (0)20 7831 0898

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:

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 100,000 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.

For further information, please contact:

For media, to receive the full consultation document, please contact Helen Ayres

Helen Ayres, Communications Manager: [email protected]

T +44 (0)20 7269 4620; M +44 (0)7508 724 066

IA press office: [email protected]

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 100,000 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.