The Investment Management Association (IMA) has published its monthly statistics for authorised investment funds for September 2014.
They are:
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- Net retail sales were £702 million, the lowest since January 2013
- UK Equity Income remained the best-selling IMA sector for fourth consecutive month with net retail sales of £606 million
- UK All Companies saw a net retail outflow of £852m the largest outflow ever
Daniel Godfrey, IMA Chief Executive, said:
"Following a strong first half of the year, retail sales of funds slowed in August and September, with retail investors declining to further increase their holdings of equity funds.
"However, there was wide variation in the experiences of different types of equity funds with UK and European funds seeing net outflows whilst Global and Asian equity funds doing better. Amongst UK equity funds, UK Equity Income funds had another good month whilst UK All Companies funds saw their biggest retail outflow ever."
ASSET CLASSES
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By GlobalDataProperty was the best-selling asset class in September with net retail sales of £315 million. The last time it was the top-selling asset class was in March 2007, when it had NRS of £473m.
Equity funds saw a small net retail outflow, the first such outflow since March 2013.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION
Global equity funds were the best-selling with net retail sales of £255 million. The last time it was the best-selling region was in May 2014, when it saw net retail sales of £391m.
Asia was the second best-selling with net retail sales of £163 million, considerably above the £6 million average of the previous 12 months.
UK and European equity funds saw net retail outflows of £363 million and £203 million respectively, in contrast to the average inflows of the past 12 months of £486 million and £154 million respectively.
IMA SECTOR RANKINGS
The top five best-selling IMA sectors for September 2014 were:
- UK Equity Income with net retail sales of £606 million. This sector has been the best-selling for four consecutive months.
- Property with net retail sales of £315 million.
- Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares with net retail sales of £217 million.
- Asia Pacific Excluding Japan with net retail sales of £165 million.
- Targeted Absolute Return with net retail sales of £148 million.
The worst-selling IMA sector for September 2014 was UK All Companies for the fourth consecutive month with a net retail outflow of £853 million.
RETAIL DISTRIBUTION
In September 2014, UK fund platforms continued to see the highest gross retail sales at £7.6 billion, representing a 57% market share (47% in September 2013).
Gross retail sales for Other Intermediaries (includes Wealth Managers, Stockbrokers and IFAs) totalled £4.7 billion in September 2014, a market share of 35% (45% in September 2013).
Direct gross retail sales in September 2014 were £1.0 billion, representing a market share of 7.8% (7.4% in September 2013).
FUND PLATFORM PRODUCT SALES
For the five fund platforms that provide data to the IMA (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Skandia and Transact) net sales for September 2014 were £727 million.
ISAs had the highest net sales at £275 million, followed by Unwrapped (£260 million), Personal Pensions (£198 million) and Insurance Bonds, which saw an outflow of £7 million.
For the same five fund platforms, funds under management as at the end of September 2014 were £176 billion, compared with £154 billion a year earlier.
ISAs
In September 2014, there was an inflow of £106 million into funds in ISAs through fund companies and the five fund platforms that provide data to the IMA (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Skandia and Transact), compared to £65 million in September 2013.
The top three best-selling sectors for ISAs based on the five fund platforms were:
- UK Equity Income (£106 million net sales)
- Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares (£79 million net sales)
- Property (£41 million net sales)
FUND OF FUNDS
Net retail sales for funds of funds in September 2014 were £257 million.
Net retail sales of funds of funds invested with different asset management firms were £228 million, compared to £29 million for funds of funds invested into the same firm’s funds.
Funds under management for funds of funds were at £93.3 billion as at the end of September 2014, accounting for 11.5% of industry funds under management, compared with 11.4% in September 2013.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw of net retail sales £434 million, with funds under management of £87.8 billion as at the end of September 2014. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 10.8%, compared with 9.6% in September 2013.
ETHICAL FUNDS
Net retail sales of ethical funds were £34 million in September 2014, with funds under management of £9.6 billion. Their share of industry funds under management was 1.2%.
OVERSEAS DOMICILED FUNDS
In September 2014, net retail sales of overseas domiciled funds were £310 million.
