May sees modest inflows with bond funds leading the way
UK investors put £356 million into funds in May, according to data published today by the Investment Association (IA).
Key findings for May 2023:
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Fixed Income funds saw inflows of £632 million, while Government Bond was the top selling sector with net retail sales of £658 million.
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Global funds were the top selling equity region with net retail inflows of £261 million.
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Tracker funds saw net retail inflows of £1.0 billion in May 2023.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said:
“With ISA season behind us, modest inflows continued in May with £356m invested into funds overall. Caution was the theme of the month, with Government Bonds seeing strong inflows. This is not surprising given concern about potential global recession and ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
“Investors continued to diversify their equity portfolios, with continued inflows into global equity funds. However, North America had its first outflow in seven months, possibly reflecting uncertainty ahead of resolution on the debt ceiling. The UK remains unloved amidst persistent outflows.”
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
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Funds Under Management |
Net Retail Sales |
Net Institutional Sales |
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May 2023 |
£1.38 trillion |
£356 million |
-£2.76 billion |
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May 2022 |
£1.46 trillion |
-£921 million |
-£3.89 billion |
BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS
The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for May 2023 were:
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Government Bond with net retail sales of £658 million.
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Short Term Money Market with net retail sales of £382 million.
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UK Gilts followed with net retail sales of £344 million.
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Volatility Managed with net retail sales of £173 million.
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Global Equity Income was fifth with net retail sales of £173 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in May 2023 was UK All Companies, which experienced outflows of £916 million.
NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS
Fixed Income funds saw inflows of £632 million.
Money Market saw inflows of £500 million.
Mixed Asset funds saw inflows of £159 million.
Funds in Others saw £116 million in inflows.
Property funds experienced £60 million outflows
Equity funds saw outflows of £992 million.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*
Global funds saw net retail inflows of £261 million.
Asia funds saw net retail inflows of £97 million.
Europe funds saw outflows of £65 million.
Japan funds experienced outflows of £134 million.
North America funds saw outflows of £336 million.
UK funds saw outflows of £1.2 billion.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw net retail inflows of £1.0 billion in May 2023. Tracker funds under management stood at £292 billion at the end of May. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 21.2%.
RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS
Responsible investment funds saw a net retail inflow of £26 million in May 2023. Responsible investment funds under management stood at £96 billion at the end of May. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 7.0%.
GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
Gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £12.1 billion, representing a market share of 45.1%.
Gross retail sales through other UK Intermediaries including IFAs totalled £8.4 billion, representing a market share of 31.4%.
Gross retail sales for Discretionary Manager totalled £2.1 billion, representing a market share of 7.8%.
Direct gross retail sales totalled £1.6 billion, representing a market share of 6.0%.
In May, Execution only intermediaries totalled £151 million in gross retail sales and accounted for 0.6% of the market.
For further information, please contact:
Helen Ayres, Head of Communications: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4620
Arianna Schardt, Communications Executive: [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 here.
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:
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Build people’s resilience to financial adversity
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Help people achieve their financial aspirations
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Enable people to maintain a decent standard of living as they grow older
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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.
