• Targeted Absolute Return was the best-selling sector with net retail sales of £445 million
• Mixed Asset fund net retail sales of £404 million, the highest since last summer
• Equity fund net retail sales of £874 million, up from £802 million in May
• Fixed income funds saw a net retail outflow for the second consecutive month
• Tracker fund net retail sales of £727 million
Daniel Godfrey, The Investment Association Chief Executive, said:
"Net retail sales held up well in June despite the uncertainty surrounding the Greek bailout and Chinese markets. Most striking was mixed asset funds having their best month since last summer and Targeted Absolute Return funds being the most popular sector as many investors left it to fund managers to decide on asset allocation in uncertain markets. Equity funds, including UK equity funds, did well whilst retail investors made modest net withdrawals from fixed income funds ahead of inevitable eventual increases in interest rates."
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
Funds Under Management Net Retail Sales Net Institutional Sales
June 2015 £863 billion £1.5 billion -£508 million
June 2014 £806 billion £2.2 billion £1.0 billion
ASSET CLASSES
Equity was the best-selling asset class in June 2015 with net retail sales of £874 million.
Mixed Asset was the second best-selling with net retail sales of £404 million, the highest since July 2014.
Fixed income funds were the worst-selling for the second consecutive month with a net retail outflow of £198 million. This is the largest outflow since January 2014 when net retail sales were -£298m.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*
UK equity funds were the best-selling for the first time this year with net retail sales of £491 million. The last time net retail sales were as high for UK equity funds was in October 2014.
Global equity funds were the second-best selling with net retail sales of £273 million.
European equity funds were the third best-selling with net retail sales £171 million, the lowest since January 2015.
Asian equity funds saw their largest net retail outflow on record of £288 million.
THE INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTOR RANKINGS
The top five best-selling Investment Association sectors for June 2015 were:
1. Targeted Absolute Return with net retail sales of £445 million.
2. UK Equity Income with net retail sales of £438 million.
3. Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares with net retail sales of £259 million.
4. Property with net retail sales of £225 million.
5. European Excluding UK with net retail sales of £155 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in June 2015 was Asia Pacific Excluding Japan with a net retail outflow of £226 million. The UK All Companies sector, which had been the worst selling for the previous five months, saw positive net retail sales for the first time since October 2014.
RETAIL DISTRIBUTION
In June, UK fund platforms continued to see the highest gross retail sales at £7.4 billion, representing a 52.9% market share (56.6% in June 2014).
Gross retail sales for Other Intermediaries (includes Wealth Managers, Stockbrokers and IFAs) totalled £5.5 billion in June representing a market share of 39.2% (36.4% in June 2014).
Direct gross retail sales in June were £1.1 billion, representing a market share of 7.9% (7.0% in June 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 June 2015 were £1.1 billion.
Personal Pensions had the highest net sales at £462 million, followed by ISAs (£371 million), Unwrapped (£235 million) and Insurance Bonds (£18 million).
For the same five fund platforms, funds under management as at the end of June 2015 were £192 billion, compared with £171 billion a year earlier.
ISAs
In June 2015, net retail sales of funds in ISAs provided by fund companies and the five fund platforms that provide data to The Investment Association (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Old Mutual Wealth and Transact) were £191 million, compared to £267 million in June 2014.
The top three best-selling sectors for ISAs based on the five fund platforms were:
1. UK Equity Income (£105 million net sales)
2. Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares (£103 million net sales)
3. Property (£40 million net sales)
FUND OF FUNDS
Net retail sales for funds of funds in June 2015 were £358 million.
Funds of funds invested with different asset management firms saw net retail sales of £236 million, compared to net retail sales of £122 million for funds of funds invested into the same firm's funds.
Funds under management for funds of funds were at £104 billion at the end of June 2015, accounting for 12.0% of industry funds under management, compared with 11.4% in June 2014.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw net retail sales of £727 million with funds under management of £104.3 billion as at the end of June 2015. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 12.1%, compared with 10.4% in June 2014.
ETHICAL FUNDS
Net retail sales of ethical funds were £29 million in June 2015. Funds under management were £9.9 billion at the end of June, representing a 1.1% share of industry funds under management.
OVERSEAS DOMICILED FUNDS
In June 2015, overseas domiciled funds saw a net retail outflow of £13 million.