INVESTMENT FUND STATISTICS
February 2008

UK Domiciled funds

Funds under management 
Funds under management of UK domiciled investment funds were £441.3 billion at the end February, a rise of 2% from January but slightly lower than the £443.9 billion seen in February 2007. UK domiciled ISA funds under management of £50.9 billion were slightly up from the previous month's £50.2 billion, but lower than the £51.7 billion seen in February 2007.

Graph showing UK domiciled funds under management since February 2007

ISA sales 
Net sales of UK domiciled investment fund ISAs were positive at £31.7 million in February, compared with the previous month's outflow of £68.4 million, but down from the £88.1 million inflow seen in February 2007

The most popular UK domiciled sector in February, excluding sales from fund supermarkets, was UK All Companies, accounting for £79.1 million of gross ISA sales.  In net terms, the most popular ISA sector, excluding sales from fund supermarkets, was  the Cautious Managed sector, accounting for inflows of £19.6 million.

UK domiciled net sales by asset class 
Of the £309 million net retail sales, £197 million was invested in bond funds, followed by £170 million in balanced funds.  Institutional holdings of unit trusts and OEICs saw inflows of £503 million with equity funds accounting for inflows of £288 million.

Graph showing net retail sales of UK domiciled funds over the last 13 months

Gross retail sales by sector and distribution channel 
The sector with the largest gross retail sales in February was UK All Companies, representing 16% of gross retail sales of UK domiciled funds. 78% of gross retail sales into the UK All Companies sector were via intermediaries.

The most popular retail distribution channel for  for UK domiciled funds in February was intermediaries, representing 87% of gross retail business. Gross ISA sales of £208 million through fund supermarkets made them the dominant distributor of ISAs, followed by £188 million through sales force/tied agents.

Best selling sector for UK domiciled funds 
The sector with the largest net retail inflow was the Specialist sector with inflows of £276 million, of which £119 million was commodity funds. Property funds saw £7 million in outflows compared to net retail outflows of £77.3 in January 2008. The sector with the biggest outflows in February was the UK All Companies sector with net retail outflows of £222.9 million.

OVERSEAS FUNDS

Overseas funds under management of £16.4 billion in February saw a slight increase from the previous month's total of £16.3 billion. Net retail sales of overseas domiciled funds in February saw outflows of £41.1 million compared to outflows of £296.4 million seen the previous month. Net retail sales of overseas domiciled investment fund ISAs were £2.1 million in February, an increase on the previous month's £0.6million.

Summary of overseas domiciled funds - FUM and sales 

Jane Lowe, Director of Markets at IMA commented:

"This month sees positive sales figures for both overall net retail sales and ISAs.  Although it is too early to tell, these modest figures may indicate that consumers' investment in funds has settled down, following the asset switching taking place over the last few months.  Only time will tell if long term confidence has returned."

-Ends-

Glossary

Detailed tables
1. Summary table 
2. UK domiciled funds under management by asset class
3. UK domiciled unit trust/OEIC sales
4. UK domiciled net sales by asset class
5. UK domiciled gross retail sales - 10 year summary
6. Overseas domiciled FUM and sales
7. Sector summary - current month
8. Retail business by sector and channel - current month
9. UK domiciled summary of best and worst selling sectors
10. UK domiciled funds under management - 13 month chart
11. UK domiciled net retail sales - 13 month chart
12. Performance of average UK domiciled fund by IMA sector

If you have any comments on presentation of the monthly statistics please e-mail press@investmentuk.org

For further information, please contact:
Noreen Shah, Press Officer, IMA, 0207 831 0898
Mona Patel, Head of Communications, IMA, 020 7831 0898/ 07834 089332