03
Nov
2022

Funds hit by £7.6bn outflows, as economic uncertainty intensifies following ‘mini budget’

UK savers took £7.6 billion out of funds in September 2022, in the eighth month of net retail outflows this year, according to data published today by the Investment Association (IA). This is the second highest ever outflow from retail funds, after March 2020 when outflows hit £9.7 billion.

Other key findings for September 2022 include:

  • Equity funds experienced almost £5 billion in outflows, the highest monthly outflow on record, driven by outflows from global equities of £2 billion. UK equity funds saw outflows of £1.3 billion.
  • UK gilts was the best-selling IA sector this month, with net retail sales of £412 million, and UK Index Linked Gilts was second with inflows of £202 million, despite turbulence in the gilt markets.
  • Responsible investment funds received outflows of £211 million for the first time since February 2021. Tracker funds also saw modest outflows of £264 million, only the second monthly outflow in 2022.
  • Fixed income funds and Mixed asset funds also saw outflows of £612 million and £785 million respectively.

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

“The political and economic uncertainty over the last few months came to a head with the fiscal policy announced in the ‘mini budget’ in late September. The resulting market turmoil contributed to investors pulling £7.6 billion from funds, the second highest monthly outflow on record. Outflows from equity funds have been increasing month on month, as economies globally continue to slow and central banks maintain their cycle of rate hikes.

“Despite the historic rise in UK gilt yields following the mini budget, which caused gilt prices to plummet, UK gilts was the highest selling sector this month as some investors saw opportunity amidst the turbulence. We have seen outflows from funds in eight of the first nine months of 2022, and while volatile markets can provide opportunities, investors are still waiting for a period of relative market and economic stability.”    

FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES 

                                 

Funds Under Management  

Net Retail Sales  

Net Institutional Sales  

September 2022   

£1.3 trillion 

-£7.6 billion 

-£6.1 billion

September 2021 

£1.5 trillion 

£2.4 billion

-£2.2 billion

BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS   

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

  1. UK Gilts with net retail sales of £412 million. 
  2. UK Index Linked Gilts was second with net retail sales of £202 million. 
  3. Volatility managed followed with net retail sales of £139 million. 
  4. Infrastructure was fourth this month with net retail sales of £134 million. 
  5. Global equity income was fifth with net retail sales of £126 million.  

The worst-selling Investment Association sector in September 2022 was Global, which experienced outflows of £1.3 billion.  

NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS

All asset classes saw outflows in September,

Property funds experienced £166 million in outflows.

Money Market funds also experienced outflows, at £422 million.

Fixed Income funds saw outflows of £612 million.

Other funds (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed, and Unclassified sectors) saw £643 million in outflows.

Mixed Asset funds saw outflows of £785 million.

Equity funds saw outflows of £5 billion.

NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION* 

All equity regions experienced outflows this month.

Japan funds saw outflows of £112 million.

Asia funds saw outflows of £204 million.

Europe funds saw outflows of £395 million.

North America funds saw net retail outflows of £648 million.

UK funds saw outflows of £1.3 billion.

Global funds saw outflows of £2 billion.

TRACKER FUNDS 

Tracker funds saw net retail outflows of £264 million in September 2022. Tracker funds under management stood at £271 billion at the end of September. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 20.4%.

RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS 

Responsible investment funds saw a net retail outflow of £211 million in September 2022. Responsible investment funds under management stood at £86 billion at the end of September. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 6.5%.

GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL 

Gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £10.0 billion, representing a market share of 50.9%.

Gross retail sales through other UK Intermediaries including IFAs totalled £5.5 billion, representing a market share of 28.1%.

Direct gross retail sales totalled £759 million, representing a market share of 3.9%.

In September, Execution only intermediaries totalled £137 million in gross retail sales and accounted for 0.7% of the market.

ENDS 

For further information, please contact: 

Arianna Schardt, Communications Executive: [email protected]

T: +44 (0)20 7269 4625  

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 Technology 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.