The Investment Management Association today publishes its monthly fund statistics for April 2012.
Key findings:
- Net retail sales of UK domiciled funds exceed £2 billion in April
- Net retail sales of overseas domiciled funds to UK investors hit record level at £518 million
- Fixed income continues to be the best selling asset class for the eighth consecutive month
- £ Corporate bond is the highest selling sector – making bond sectors the best sellers for five consecutive months
Jane Lowe, IMA Director of Markets, said:
“Investors added more than £2 billion to their fund portfolios in April. This is the best figure since last April, helped by strong ISA sales of £1 billion in the new tax year.
“All the main asset classes saw healthy inflows. Fixed Income funds overall remained the top selling asset for the eighth consecutive month, however all the mixed asset sectors also saw positive inflows. In equity there was a mixed picture, notably with inflows to Global, Far East and UK sectors outweighing outflows from sectors with European equity exposure.”
UK DOMICILED FUNDS
| SUMMARY UK DOMICILED |
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT |
RETAIL SALES (NET) |
ISA SALES (NET) |
| April 2012 | £607.3 billion | £2.1 billion | £1.3 billion |
| April 2011 | £605.2 billion | £3.2 billion | £1.3 billion |
SALES
April saw net retail sales of £2.1 billion, the highest level since April last year and well above levels seen over the last nine months.
ISA sales
ISAs saw net sales of £1.3 billion in April – broadly the same as last year. The new tax year (6 to 30 April) accounted for £1.0 billion of this.
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT
Funds under management in April totalled £607.3 billion, compared to £605.2 billion in April 2011.
(See Summary Table)
ASSETS
The leading asset class continues to be Fixed Income for the eighth consecutive month with net retail sales of £599 million in April, above the monthly average of £487 million for the previous 12 months.
The second highest selling asset class (excluding other) was Mixed Asset with net retail sales of £487 million – the highest since June 2011 and well above the monthly average for the previous 12 months of £340 million.
Equity funds saw an inflow of £437 million, the best figure since last August and also well above recent levels.
(See Table 4)
EQUITY FUND SALES BY REGION
UK equity funds saw net retail sales of £162 million in April, following significant outflows for six consecutive months.
European equity funds continue to experience outflows since June 2011, with an outflow of £166 million in April.
Global equity funds net retail sales were the highest at £349 million.
SECTORS RANKING (NET RETAIL SALES)
- The £ Corporate Bond sector was the best-selling IMA sector in April with net retail sales of £277 million, well above the monthly average for the previous 12 months of £136 million. Bond sectors have been the top selling sector for the last five months with £ Corporate Bond being the best seller in four out of those five months.
- The Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares sector was the second highest selling IMA Sector in April with £258 million in net retail sales.
- The third most popular sector, £ Strategic Bond, saw net retail sales of £250 million in April, having been the top selling sector in the previous month.
- The UK Equity Income sector jumped to the fourth best-selling IMA sector in April with net retail sales of £136 million, more than double its monthly average of £62 million for the previous12 months. April was the first month of positive sales in UK equity funds overall, following six consecutive months of outflows.
- Global Emerging Market remained in fifth place with net retail sales of £156 million.
Europe Excluding UK was the worst selling sector with a net outflow of £152 million in April. The sector has experienced net outflows every month for the last 12 months.
| All retail investors (April 2012) |
Ranking in April 2012 | Net retail sales in April 2012 (£million) | Ranking in March 2012 | Asset class |
| £ Corporate Bond | 1 | 277,082,834 | 3 | Fixed Income |
| Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares | 2 | 257,640,758 | 2 | Mixed Asset |
| £ Strategic Bond | 3 | 249,798,046 | 1 | Fixed Income |
| UK Equity Income | 4 | 136,290,198 | 15 | Equity |
| Global Emerging Markets | 5 | 136,168,297 | 5 | Equity |
SECTOR RANKINGS FOR ISAS
The best selling sector for ISAs in April was Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares with net retail sales of £131.5 million.
£ Strategic Bond was second best-selling sector with sales of £117 million.
Europe Excluding UK was also the worst selling sector for ISA net sales in April with a net outflow of £23 million. The sector has experienced net outflows every month since January 2010, when the IMA started to break down ISA sales by sectors.
SECTOR RANKINGS FOR ISAS
The best selling sector for ISAs in April was Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares with net retail sales of £131.5 million.
£ Strategic Bond was second best-selling sector with sales of £117 million.
Europe Excluding UK was also the worst selling sector for ISA net sales in April with a net outflow of £23 million. The sector has experienced net outflows every month since January 2010, when the IMA started to break down ISA sales by sectors.
(See Table 8d)
RETAIL DISTRIBUTION – based on data from 12 platforms*
Gross retail sales through UK Fund Platforms* totalled £4.4 billion in April, with platforms taking a market share of 48% (41% in March 2012). This is the highest market share since the IMA started collecting data on fund platforms in January 2010.
Gross retail sales for ‘Other Intermediaries’ (includes Wealth Managers and Stockbrokers) totalled £3.5 billion for April, a market share of 38%.
Direct channels’ gross retail sales surpassed the £1 billion mark for the first time since August last year with sales of £1.3 billion, representing a 15% market share.
(See Table 5)
FUND PLATFORMS – based on data from 5 large platforms**
April saw funds under management of the five platforms** which provide data directly to the IMA of £118 billion.
(See Table 6)
INSTITUTIONAL FUNDS
Institutional funds saw a net outflow of £1.3 billion in April – this was largely due to some insurance monies being move out of an OEIC structure.
(See Table 4)
OVERSEAS DOMICILED FUNDS
Overseas domiciled funds saw the highest net retail sales to UK investors on record of £518 million in April.
(See Table 10)
- ENDS -
For further information, please contact:
Navdeep Sidhu, Press Officer, IMA, 020 7831 0898 or 07843 517618
Mona Patel, Head of Communications, IMA, 020 7831 0898 or 07834 089332
Christina Bridge, Press Assistant, IMA, 020 7831 0898
Louise Marriott, Lansons Communications, 020 7566 9723
Jennifer Stevens, Lansons Communications, 020 7566 9723
The IMA’s press releases and statistical information can all be found at www.investmentuk.org
Notes for Editors
For more details on the figures given in the press release, please see tables below.
1 Summary table
2 Funds under management – by asset class
3 Sales – gross, net and ISAs
4 Sales – net sales by asset class
5 Sales – by distribution channel
6 Sales – by Platforms
7 Sectors – funds under management and sales
8 Sectors – gross and net sales
9 Sectors – best and worst selling
10 Offshore funds – funds under management and sales
11 Sectors – investment performance
Graphs
1 Funds under management – by month
2 Sales – net retail sales past year
The IMA’s figures for fund sales cover retail and institutional sales for UK authorised unit trusts and open ended investment companies (OEICs). The IMA publishes these figures on a monthly basis.
Funds comprise a key element of the UK’s £3.9 trillion asset management industry, which also covers pension and insurance company funds, including £1 trillion invested on behalf of overseas clients.
Each year the IMA publishes its annual Asset Management Survey, which looks at the industry in the round.
Net retail sales comprise total retail sales minus repurchases (transfers out or switches), thus the figures can result in a negative figure or outflow.
Definition of £ Corporate Bond sector:
Funds which invest at least 80% of their assets in Sterling denominated (or hedged back to Sterling), Triple BBB minus or above corporate bond securities (as measured by Standard & Poor’s or an equivalent external rating agency). This excludes convertibles, preference shares and permanent interest bearing shares (PIBs).
Fund Platforms
*The figure for Fund Platform sales covers 12 Platforms comprising Ascentric, Aviva Wrap, AXA Elevate, Cofunds, Fidelity; Hargreaves Lansdown, James Hay Wrap, Novia, Nucleus, Skandia (including Selestia, Skandia Multifunds and Skandia Life), Standard Life Savings, and Transact. Platform data includes sales made through IFAs as well as direct.
**The figures cover five platforms comprising Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Skandia and Transact.
Direct Channels
Direct includes sales forces and tied agents, private clients and other direct to investor sales without intermediation.
Variations in figures
Each month small revisions to the figures may have been made since previous press releases. This reflects additional information received by the IMA.
About the Investment Management Association:
The IMA is the trade body for the UK’s £3.9 trillion asset management industry. The money its members manage is in a wide variety of investment vehicles including authorised investment funds, pension funds and stocks and shares ISAs. Our purpose is to support and promote a commercially successful and growing UK investment management industry as we seek to improve the financial outcomes for customers – savers and investors.
