For immediate release: Monday 28 September 2009

INVESTMENT FUND STATISTICS - August 2009

The Investment Management Association (IMA) today releases its figures for the fund management industry for August.

• Highest August net retail sales on record
• Net ISA sales positive for the sixth month in a row
• £ Corporate Bond is the best selling sector for the tenth consecutive month

"Investors continued to add to their holdings in August, as they have been doing all year so far.  It is particularly encouraging to see investors making use of ISAs again.  After five years of withdrawals from ISAs, we have now had six months of net inflows."

UK DOMICILED FUNDS

Sales

Net retail sales for August were £2.2 billion. This is the highest figure ever recorded for August.

Strong inflows have been recorded each month this year, with total net retail sales year-to-date standing at £15.9 billion.  Gross retail sales are higher and repurchases are lower in the last six months, compared to the preceding six months.  (See Table 3, and Chart 2)

ISAs

ISA sales totalled £151 million, the sixth consecutive month for positive net sales.  (This was 31% lower than in July but a huge contrast to August last year which saw net retail sales for ISAs of minus £299 million.)  (Table 3)

ISA sales year-to-date total £1.8 billion net.  This is in contrast to the last five years, when net sales of ISAs year-to-date were negative or negligible, reflecting the fact that higher levels of funds were being redeemed than the amount of new money coming in. 

The most popular fund choice for ISA investors in August was the IMA Cautious Managed Sector (£67 million gross retail sales, compared to July when it was £87 million.)  (Table 8)

Funds under management

Funds under management reached £439 billion in August, the highest they have been for over a year (in May 2008 they peaked at £454.0billion). (August is 6% up on the total of £412.5 billion in July.)  (See Table 1, Table 2 and Chart 1)

Asset classes

Bond funds continued to be the most popular asset class in terms of net retail sales. They were £742 million in August, comprising 34% of total net retail sales.  (Table 4)

However equity funds were not far behind.  Having started the year with negative net retail sales (-£229 million in January and -£28 million in February), the last six months have seen stronger figures.  In August net retail sales were £696 million, 32% of the total. 

Property, which has been showing positive net retail sales since April, totalled £129 million. This represents just 6% of total net retail sales. 

Net institutional sales of equity funds were higher than those for bond funds (£318 million compared to £153 million.) 

IMA Sectors

The IMA £ Corporate Bond sector achieved the highest net retail sales of any sector for the tenth consecutive month (£338 million in August). (Table 9)

This was followed by the IMA Absolute Return - UK sector (£235 million), the highest net inflow for the last year.

The IMA Property sector, which has had positive inflows since April, totalled £129 million in August.  (This compares to £34 million in July.)  This is the largest net retail inflow into the sector since June 2007.

However, gross sales show a slightly different pattern, with the large UK All Companies sector proving the most popular.

(For more details, see Table 8) 

Distribution

Intermediaries continue to dominate investment sales, accounting for 88.4% of gross retail sales in August.  This figure has been over 80% for the last three years in contrast to the position ten years ago when intermediaries accounted for less than half the total.  (Table 5)

OVERSEAS FUNDS

Overseas funds under management totalled £20.3 billion in August.  (It is 6% higher than the £19.2 billion the total stood at in July.)  Total net retail sales were £151 million.  Whilst this is half the July figure, it is in sharp contrast to the minus £53 million recorded in August last year. (Table 6)