UK investors put £2 billion into funds in March, the highest inflow since December 2021, according to data published today by the Investment Association (IA).
Key findings for March 2023:
- All asset classes, apart from Money Market funds, experienced inflows with Equity funds and Mixed Asset funds seeing inflows of £643 million and £745 million, respectively.
- Tracker fund flows rebounded with strong inflows of £1.6 billion in March.
- Outflows from UK equity funds slowed to £835 million in March compared with the previous four months, which had seen monthly outflows of over £1 billion. North American equity funds saw a modest outflow of £41 million – the first outflow since October 2022.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said:
“In a sign of the continuing popularity of ISAs, savers stepped-up their investments by putting £2 billion into funds in March, adding up to a £4.1 billion investment into funds in the first quarter of the year.
“In March, with the approaching end of the tax year coinciding with a better-than-expected forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility, investors took the opportunity to invest across all major asset classes and maximise on their tax-free ISA allowance. Our research shows that the majority of investors see investing as delivering better long-term returns, with forty one percent of investors intending to put more money into their ISAs this year, than in the previous tax year.”
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
| Funds Under Management | Net Retail Sales | Net Institutional Sales | |
| March 2023 | £1.4 trillion | £2.0 billion | -£11.2 billion |
| March 2022 | £1.5 trillion | -£3.5 billion | £2.5 billion |
BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS
The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for March 2023 were:
- Short Term Money Market with net retail sales of £667 million.
- £ Corporate Bond with net retail sales of £529 million.
- Global with net retail sales of £365 million.
- Volatility Managed with net retail sales of £361 million.
- Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares with net retail sales of £267 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in March 2023 was UK All Companies, which experienced outflows of £735 million.
NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS
Mixed Asset funds saw inflows of £745 million.
Equity funds saw inflows of £643 million.
Other funds (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed, and Unclassified sectors) saw £461 million in inflows.
Fixed Income funds saw inflows of £363 million.
Property funds experienced a £80 million inflow.
Money Market saw outflows of £323 million.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*
Global funds saw inflows of £653 million.
North America funds saw net retail outflows of £41 million.
Asia funds saw outflows at £99 million.
Japan saw outflows of £153 million.
Europe funds saw outflows of £223 million.
UK funds saw outflows of £835 million.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw net retail inflows of £1.6 billion in March 2023. Tracker funds under management stood at £284 billion at the end of March. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 20.6%.
RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS
Responsible investment funds saw a net retail inflow of £298 million in March 2023. Responsible investment funds under management stood at £94.5 billion at the end of March. 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 £14.2 billion, representing a market share of 46.4%.
Gross retail sales through other UK Intermediaries including IFAs totalled £10.1 billion, representing a market share of 33.1%.
Gross retail sales for Discretionary Manager totalled £2.1 billion, representing a market share of 7.0%.
Direct gross retail sales totalled £1.1 billion, representing a market share of 3.7%.
In March, Execution only intermediaries totalled £105 million in gross retail sales and accounted for 0.3% of the market.
