April sees boost in consumer confidence with £2.8 billion invested in funds
Key findings for April 2023:
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All asset classes experienced inflows in April, with bond funds and money market funds each receiving £1.1 billion from investors.
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Tracker funds experienced another strong month, with inflows of £1.6 billion.
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Equity funds saw the second consecutive month of inflows in 2023 with £93 million invested in April.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said:
“April saw a surge in consumer confidence with £2.8 billion invested in funds, the highest level since August 2021. This month, we have seen investors opt for a cautious approach favouring bond funds, which saw £.1.1 billion inflows, and choosing globally diversified equity funds. UK gilts also benefited, with £259 million invested in April,
“Demand for ISAs rose in April, £342 million was invested within the tax-free wrapper, five times more than the previous month. This was however less than the same time last year, with £646 million invested in April 2022.”
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
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Funds Under Management |
Net Retail Sales |
Net Institutional Sales |
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April 2023 |
£1.4 trillion |
£2.8 billion |
-£2.0 billion |
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April 2022 |
£1.5 trillion |
£608 million |
-£1.6 billion |
BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS
The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for April 2023 were:
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Short Term Money Market with net retail sales of £770 million.
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Global with net retail sales of £340 million.
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UK Gilts followed with net retail sales of £259 million.
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Specialist Bond with net retail sales of £226 million.
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Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares was fifth with net retail sales of £225 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in April 2023 was UK All Companies, which experienced outflows of £1.1 billion.
NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS
Fixed Income funds saw inflows of £1.1 billion.
Money Market saw inflows of £1.1 billion.
Mixed Asset funds saw inflows of £346 million.
Other funds (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed, and Unclassified sectors) saw £177 million in inflows.
Equity funds saw inflows of £93 million.
Property funds experienced £19 million of inflows.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*
Global funds saw net retail inflows of £452 million.
North America funds saw inflows of £100 million.
Japan funds experienced inflows of £45 million.
Asia funds saw net retail outflows of £54 million.
Europe funds saw outflows of £158 million.
UK funds saw outflows of £1.3 billion.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw net retail inflows of £1.6 billion in April 2023. Tracker funds under management stood at £294 billion at the end of April. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 21.0%.
RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS
Responsible investment funds saw a net retail inflow of £216 million in April 2023. Responsible investment funds under management stood at £96 billion at the end of April. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 6.8%.
GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
Gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £13 billion, representing a market share of 46.0%.
Gross retail sales through other UK Intermediaries including IFAs totalled £ 9.8 billion, representing a market share of 34.3%.
Gross retail sales for Discretionary Manager totalled £1.8 billion, representing a market share of 6.2%.
Direct gross retail sales totalled £1.2 billion, representing a market share of 4.2%.
In April, Execution only intermediaries totalled £105 million in gross retail sales and accounted for 0.4% of the market.
For further information, please contact:
Helen Ayres, Head of Communications: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4625
IA press office: [email protected]
Notes for Editors
To see a breakdown of the fund data referenced in this press release, please see all of the tables
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:
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Asia |
Europe |
Global |
Japan |
North America |
UK |
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Asia Pacific excl. Japan |
Europe excl. UK |
Global |
Japan |
North America |
UK All Companies |
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Asia Pacific incl. Japan |
Europe incl. UK |
Global Emerging Markets |
Japanese Smaller Companies |
North America Smaller Companies |
UK Equity Income |
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China/Greater China |
Europe Smaller Companies |
Global Equity Income |
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UK Smaller Companies |
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India/Indian Subcontinent |
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Specialist |
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Healthcare |
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Technology and Technology innovation |
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Financials and Financial innovation |
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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 250 members manage £10.0 trillion of assets and the investment management industry supports 122,000 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.
