“Net retail sales this March were well down in comparison to a year ago following the pattern seen in January and February. However, we did see record net retail sales of £938 million into tracker funds. It was also a particularly notable month as we saw retail investors switching record amounts out of UK equity funds and into European equity funds, developing a trend seen over the previous couple of months.
”The usual late push into ISAs at the end of tax year was smaller this year, with £585 million invested through funds from 1 March to 5 April 2015 compared to £822 million in the same period last year. But there was growth in overall annual sales helped by the increase of the tax free ISA allowance.”
ISAs
During the 2014/15 tax year, ISAs saw net retail sales of £2.6 billion through fund companies and the five fund platforms that provide data to The Investment Association (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Old Mutual Wealth and Transact), compared to £2.2 billion in the 2013/14 tax year.
However, in the final week of the 2014/15 tax year net retail sales were £171 million, down from the £358 million for the same period last year.
ASSET CLASSES
Property continued to be the best-selling asset class in March with net retail sales of £294 million, compared with £304 million in February.
Mixed Asset funds saw net retail sales of £194 million in March, up from £137 million in February.
Fixed Income funds had net retail sales of £128 million in March, down from £130 million in February.
Money Market funds had net retail sales of £117 million, the highest on record (since January 1992).
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION
European equity funds were the best-selling in March with net retail sales of £663 million, the last time they were the best-selling was October 2013 with net retail sales of £364 million.
Global equity funds were the second best-selling with net retail sales £264 million, down from £408 million in February.
North American equity funds were the third best-selling region with net retail sales of £117 million, the highest since October 2014 and a turnaround from February’s £356 million net retail outflow.
UK equity funds saw a net retail outflow of £963 million in March, the largest net outflow ever.
THE INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTOR RANKINGS
The top five best-selling Investment Association sectors for March 2015 were:
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Europe Excluding UK with net retail sales of £506 million. The last time this sector was the best-selling was in August 2000 with net retail sales of £298 million.
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Property with net retail sales of £294 million.
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Targeted Absolute Return with net retail sales of £293 million.
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UK Equity Income with net retail sales of £178 million.
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Global Equity Income with net retail sales of £167 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector for March 2015 was UK All Companies which saw a net retail outflow of £980 million.
RETAIL DISTRIBUTION
In March, UK fund platforms continued to see the highest gross retail sales at £8.7 billion, representing a 50.9% market share (52.6% in March 2014).
Gross retail sales for Other Intermediaries (includes Wealth Managers, Stockbrokers and IFAs) totalled £6.9 billion in March representing a market share of 40.0% (39.1% in March 2014).
Direct gross retail sales in February were £1.6 billion, representing a market share of 9.2% (8.3% in March 2014).
FUND PLATFORM PRODUCT SALES
For the five fund platforms that provide data to The Investment Association (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Old Mutual Wealth and Transact) net sales for March were £962 million.
ISAs had the highest net sales at £513 million, followed by Personal Pensions (£499 million), Insurance Bonds (-£20 million) and Unwrapped (-£30 million).
For the same five fund platforms, funds under management as at the end of March 2015 were £194 billion, compared with £168 billion a year earlier.
FUND OF FUNDS
Net retail sales for funds of funds in March 2015 were £322 million.
Funds of funds invested with different asset management firms saw net retail sales of £174 million, compared to net retail sales of £149 million for funds of funds invested into the same firm’s funds.
Funds under management for funds of funds were at £104.3 billion at the end of March 2015, accounting for 11.8% of industry funds under management, compared with 11.3% in March 2014.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw record net retail sales of £938 million with funds under management of £100.9 billion as at the end of March 2015. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 11.5%, compared with 9.8% in March 2014.
ETHICAL FUNDS
Net retail sales of ethical funds were £23 million in March 2015. Funds under management were £9.9 billion at the end of March, representing a 1.1% share of industry funds under management.
OVERSEAS DOMICILED FUNDS
In March 2015, there were net retail sales of £243 million of overseas domiciled funds.