The first half of 2021 has seen total net retail sales of £24 billion, the highest level of half-year sales since 2017, which saw record levels of investment, June data published today by the Investment Association (IA) reveals.
The other key findings for June include:
- Tracker funds enjoyed continued strong inflows in June, with net retail sales of £2.2 billion.
- Responsible Investment funds saw over £1 billion of inflows in June, and a total of £4 billion for Q2 – the highest quarterly inflows since IA data was first collected.
- As inflation rises, the newly launched Global Inflation Linked Bonds sector was the highest selling fixed income sector at £214 million. This inflow is 4% of the sector’s FUM of £5.6 billion.
- Total net retail sales for June were £4.2 billion.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said: “The positive inflows for the first half of the year are a clear sign of the strong economic recovery and growing investor confidence as we emerge from the pandemic. If the pace of net sales continues at the same rate, we could be on track to match the record-breaking inflows of 2017. However, investors also have one eye on inflation, which may have a greater impact in the second half of the year.
“Investors looking for lower cost ways to save have continued to put their money into tracker funds. The difference in the data has been steady sales to active funds following March 2020’s outflow, helping flows to reach a record H1 total. Elsewhere, the strong quarterly inflows into responsible investment funds are the highest since the data was first collected.”
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
| Funds Under Management | Net Retail Sales | Net Institutional Sales | |
| June 2021 | £1.5 trillion | £4.2 billion | £199 billion |
| June 2020 | £1.3 trillion | £2.1 billion | -£202 billion |
BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS
The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for June 2021 were:
- Global was first with net retail sales of £1.1 billion.
- Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares was second with net retail sales of £910 million.
- Volatility Managed followed with net retail sales of £363 million.
- Global Inflation Linked Bond was fourth with net retail sales of £214 million.
- Europe Excluding UK was fifth with net retail sales of £212 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in June 2021 was Short Term Money Market with an outflow of £389 million.
NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS
- Equity was the best-selling asset class in June 2021 with £2.2 billion in net retail sales.
- Fixed Income was the second best-selling asset class, with £986 million of inflows.
- Mixed Asset funds experienced £935 million of inflows.
- Other funds (which includes the Targeted Absolute Return, Volatility Managed, and Unclassified sectors) experienced £469 million of net retail sales.
- Money Market funds however experienced net retail outflows in June of £369 million.
- Property funds experienced £18 million in net retail outflows.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION
- Global was the best-selling equity fund region in June 2021, with net retail sales of £1.1 billion.
- Europe funds were second, seeing net retail inflows of £247 million.
- North America funds saw net retail inflows of £184 million.
- Japan funds experienced net retail inflows of £107 million.
- Asia funds experienced net retail inflows of £72 million.
- UK funds was the only equity fund region that experienced outflows, with net retail sales of -£77 million.
TRACKER FUNDS
- Tracker funds saw a net retail inflow of £2.2 billion in June 2021. Tracker funds under management stood at £278 billion as of the end of June. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 18.2%.
RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS
- Responsible investment funds saw a net retail inflow of £1.2 billion in June 2021. Responsible investment funds under management stood at £78 billion as of the end of June. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 5.1%.
GROSS RETAIL SALES BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
- In June, gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £14 billion, representing a market share of 51.3%.
- Gross retail sales through Other UK Intermediaries including IFAs were £7 billion, representing a market share of 25.8%.
- Direct gross retail sales in June were £1 billion, representing a market share of 4.0%.
