08
Nov
2017

Fixed income & equity funds lead the way for UK investors in record breaking month

The Investment Association’s monthly statistics of UK investor behaviour in September 2017 show:

  • Net retail sales breaks previous records with £5.6 billion in September
  • Best-selling asset class in Q3 was fixed income, with net retail sales of £4.9 billion
  • Best-selling sector in Q3 was Global, with net retail sales of £1.5 billion
  • Industry Funds Under Management were £1.2 trillion

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

“The UK asset management industry has had yet another record breaking month with net retail sales of £5.6 billion, surpassing the previous record set in April this year. With three months of the year to go, 2017 is already the best-selling year since IA records began.”

Alastair Wainwright, Fund Market Specialist, said:

“In the year to end of September 2017, net retail sales totalled £33.7 billion. Q3 2017 was the highest selling quarter on record with net retail sales of £14 billion, closely followed by Q2 2017 at £12.1 billion. The six highest selling months have all occurred in 2017.

Fixed Income was the most popular asset class in Q3 2017 with £4.9 billion of net retail sales, helped in no small part by the £ Strategic Bond sector which was the best-selling sector with £2.3 billion. Equity was the second best-selling asset class in Q3, at £3.4 billion. The Global and Europe ex UK sectors were the second and third best-selling sectors taking in £1.5 billion and £1.3 billion in Q3, respectively. Notably, the fifth most popular sector was Volatility Managed, which only launched in April this year and took in £864 million in Q3.”

FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES

Funds Under Management Net Retail Sales Net Institutional Sales
September 2017

£1.2 trillion

£5.6 billion

£7 million

September 2016

£1 trillion

£1.1 billion

£508 million

ASSET CLASSES

Fixed Income was the best-selling asset class in September 2017, with net retail sales of £1.8 billion. This is the largest monthly inflow into the asset class on record, beating the previous monthly record set only last month.

Equity was the second best-selling with net retail sales of £1.4 billion.

Mixed Asset was the third best-selling asset class with net retail sales of £1.1 billion.

Money Market funds saw an inflow of £419 million, whilst Property funds experienced a small outflow of £6 million.

NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*

Global funds were the best-selling in September with net retail sales of £534 million.

European equity funds were the next best-selling with net retail sales of £518 million.

Japanese funds were the third best-selling with net retail sales of £191 million.

North American funds saw net retail sales of £176 million.

Asian and UK equity funds experienced net retail outflows of £8 million and £103 million, respectively.

Region Net retail sales
in September 2017
Average net retail sales
for previous 12 months
Global

£534 million

£592 million

Europe

£518 million £46 million
Japan

£191 million

£71 million
North America

£176 million

£104 million
Asia

-£8 million

-£67 million
UK -£103 million -£241 million

THE INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTOR RANKINGS

The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for September 2017 were:

  • £ Strategic Bond was the best-selling sector with net retail sales of £985 million.
  • Global with net retail sales of £534 million.
  • Europe Ex UK with net retail sales of £489 million.
  • Volatility Managed with net retail sales of £471 million.
  • Targeted Absolute Return with net retail sales of £273 million.

The worst-selling Investment Association sector in September 2017 was the UK All Companies sector with an outflow of £111 million.


Investment Association Sector Ranking in September
2017
Net Retail Sales
in September 2017
Ranking in
August 2017
Net Retail Sales
in August 2017
Asset Class
£ Strategic Bond 1 £985 million 1 £1.1 billion

Fixed Income

Global 2 £534 million 3 £347 million

Equity

Europe Excluding UK 3 £489 million 2 £507 million

Equity

Volatility Managed

4 £471 million 8 £193 million Other

Targeted Absolute Return

5 £273 million 10 £156 million

Other

RETAIL DISTRIBUTION

In September, gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £8.8 billion, representing a market share of 43.8% (44.5% in September 2016).

Other Intermediaries including UK IFAs and Wealth Managers made gross retail sales of £5.6 billion, representing a market share of 28% (24.7% in September 2016).

Direct gross retail sales in September were £1.6 billion, representing a market share of 8.1% (9.0% in September 2016).

FUND PLATFORM PRODUCT SALES

The five fund platforms that provide data to The Investment Association (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Old Mutual Wealth and Transact) saw net retail sales of £1,366 million in September.

Personal Pensions had net sales of £816 million, Unwrapped £387 million and ISAs £164 million. Whilst Insurance Bonds saw net outflow of £1 million.

For the same five fund platforms, funds under management as at the end of September 2017 were £253 billion, compared with £220 billion a year earlier.

ISAs**

In September 2017, funds in ISAs provided by fund companies and the five fund platforms that feed data to The Investment Association (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Old Mutual Wealth and Transact) saw a net retail outflow of £37 million.

The three best-selling sectors for ISAs based on the five fund platforms were:


  • Global (£40 million net sales)
  • Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares (£33 million net sales)
  • Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares (£27 million net sales)

FUND OF FUNDS

Funds of funds had a net retail inflow of £1.2 billion in September 2017.

Funds of funds that invested externally saw net retail sales of £431 million, while funds that invested internally saw net retail sales of £752 million.

Funds under management for funds of funds were £146 billion at the end of September 2017, accounting for 12.5% of industry funds under management, compared with 11.9% in September 2016.

TRACKER FUNDS

Tracker funds saw a net retail inflow of £1.1 billion. Tracker funds under management stood at £158 billion as at the end of September 2017. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 13.6%, compared with 12.8% in September 2016.

ETHICAL FUNDS

Net retail sales of ethical funds were £108 million in September 2017. Funds under management were £14.4 billion at the end of September, representing a 1.2% share of industry funds under management.

-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

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 may 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 (Cofunds, 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 Investment Association is the trade body that represents UK investment managers who manage over £5.7 trillion on behalf of clients
    • 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.

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.