Press Release
Best ISA season for nine years - IMA statistics reveal
9 May 2011
Investment fund statistics - March 2011
The Investment Management Association today publishes its monthly fund statistics for March 2011.
Key findings:
- Best ISA season for 9 years with net sales of £956 million from 1st March - 5th April 2011
- Net ISA sales of £3.7 billion make 2010/2011 the second best tax year in 10 years
- £1.9 billion net retail sales in March, though net retail sales for Quarter 1 are the lowest in two years
- £ Strategic Bond the best selling sector in March
Jane Lowe, Director of Markets at the Investment Management Association (IMA), comments:
"The last two tax years have together seen a big jump in ISA inflows to more than £7.5 billion. This coincides with two increases to the annual allowance in October 2009 and April 2010 and compares starkly to ISA outflows of over £5 billion over the preceding five years.
“In terms of net retail sales equity funds have remained the top choice for retail investors over the last five months."
ISAs
The 2010/2011 tax year was the second best in 10 years with net ISA sales of £3.7 billion. The ISA season, covering the period 1st March – 5th April 2011 was the best in 9 years with net sales of £956 million. ISAs make up 18% of all authorised funds under management.
|
NET RETAIL ISA SALES |
|||||
|
Tax Year |
Full tax year |
Q1 |
1 Mar to 5 Apr |
1 - 5 Apr |
Jan - 5 April |
|
2010 - 11 |
£3,677 million |
£685 million |
£956 million |
£349 million |
£1,034 million |
|
2009 - 10 |
£3,991 million |
£1,070 million |
£847 million |
£152 million |
£1,222 million |
|
2008 - 09 |
-£305 million |
£395 million |
£617 million |
£208 million |
£603 million |
|
2007 - 08 |
-£1,677 million |
-£449 million |
£319 million |
£256 million |
-£193 million |
|
2006 - 07 |
-£887 million |
-£198 million |
£648 million |
£423 million |
£225 million |
|
2005 - 06 |
-£1,251 million |
-£70 million |
£547 million |
£321 million |
£251 million |
|
2004 - 05 |
-£1,187 million |
-£136 million |
£530 million |
£327 million |
£191 million |
|
2003 - 04 |
£1,645 million |
£255 million |
£476 million |
£247 million |
£502 million |
|
2002 - 03 |
£1,538 million |
£91 million |
£459 million |
£248 million |
£339 million |
|
2001 - 02 |
£3,308 million |
£847 million |
£1,158 million |
£591 million |
£1,438 million |
|
2000 - 01 |
£5,862 million |
£1,527 million |
£1,518 million |
£633 million |
£2,160 million |
NB: From January 2008, ISA figures are based on ISAs provided by fund companies and five platforms (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Landsdown, Skandia and Transact). Figures for earlier years cover slightly less platform business. All figures include former PEPs.
UK DOMICILED FUNDS
| SUMMARY UK DOMICILED |
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT |
RETAIL SALES (NET) |
| March 2011 | £583.2 billion | £1.9 million |
| March 2010 | £509.9 billion | £2.1 million |
SALES
March saw net retail sales of £1.9 billion, in line both with February and the monthly average of £1.9 billion for the previous 12 months. Quarter 1 2011 net retail sales of £4.7 billion was the lowest selling quarter since quarter 1 2009 when net retail sales were £4.1 billion.
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT
Funds under management in March totalled £583.2 billion, up 1% on February. (The FTSE 100 closed at 5,909 at the end of March, down 1.4% on February 2011 (5,994)).
Funds under management for ISAs were slightly up on February, at £106.4 billion in March 2011.
(See Table 2)
ASSETS
The leading asset class was equities with net retail sales of £739 million in March. March was the fifth consecutive month with equities as the best selling asset class after four months of bonds being the best selling.
Balanced was the second highest selling asset class in March at £411 million with bond sales slightly behind at £394 million. Quarter 1 2011 was the lowest selling quarter in terms of net retail sales for bond funds (£626 million) since quarter 3 2008.
(See Table 4)
SECTORS
The £ Strategic Bond was the best selling IMA Sector in March, with net retail sales of £337 million, well above the monthly average for the previous 12 months of £221 million and the highest sales since March 2010.
Global was the second most popular IMA Sector in March with £287 million in net retail sales, well above the monthly average for the previous 12 months of £174 million. This is the 15th month in a row that one of the Global sectors has been in the top five selling sectors.
The Cautious Managed sector was the third most popular IMA Sector in March, with net retail sales at £255 million.
TOP FIVE SELLING IMA SECTORS(NET RETAIL SALES)
| IMA Sector | Asset Class | Ranking - March 2011 |
Ranking - February 2011 |
| £ Strategic Bond | Bond | 1 | 1 |
| Global | Equity | 2 | 3 |
| Cautious Managed | Balanced | 3 | 5 |
| Absolute Return - UK | Other | 4 | 2 |
| Japan | Equity | 5 | 6 |
RETAIL DISTRIBUTION
Gross retail sales for 'Other Intermediaries' - which includes Wealth Managers and Stockbrokers - totalled £5.4 billion for March. Other Intermediaries continued to take the majority of market share in March, with 51% of total sales.
Gross retail sales through Fund Platforms* totalled £4.2 billion, above the monthly average for the previous 12 months of £3.2 billion. Platforms' market share was 40% of total gross sales in March 2011.
Direct channels' gross retail sales totalled £1.1 billion in March, with 10% of total sales.
(See Table 5)
FUND PLATFORMS
Funds under management for Fund Platforms**were £109 billion in March 2011.
Net retail sales made through Fund Platforms totalled £1.2 billion in March 2011, making it the best month since January 2008 when this data was first published.
Gross sales were also the highest since first publication and well up on recent months. Sales across all products were above average. As usual at the end of the tax year, ISAs took a higher share of fund sales in March (31%) compared with recent months.
(See Table 6)
INSTITUTIONAL FUNDS
Net institutional sales totalled £23.1 million in March 2011.
(See Table 4)
OVERSEAS DOMICILED FUNDS
Overseas domiciled funds saw net retail sales of £163.6 million in March 2011. Sales of £679 million in quarter 1 made it the highest quarter on record for net retail sales.
| OVERSEAS DOMICILED |
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT |
RETAIL SALES (NET) |
ISA SALES (NET) |
| March 2011 | £29.9 billion | £163.6 million | £1.7 million |
| March 2010 | £24.3 billion | £205.9 million | £1.9 million |
Notes:
Click here for all the tables:
http://www.investmentfunds.org.uk/press-centre/press-releases/press-release-statistics0311
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
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