Press Release

INVESTMENT FUND STATISTICS

25 February 2008

January 2008 

Summary	UK DOMICILED	OVERSEAS DOMICILED
Funds under management	£433.2 billion (January 2007 £445.6 billion)	£16.3 billion (January 2007 £14.1 billion)
Net retail sales	- £550.5 million (January 2007 £912 million)	- £296.4 million (January 2007 £16.7 million)
Net ISA sales	- £68.4 million (January 2007 £30.9 million)	£0.6 million (January 2007 £2.5 million)
Net ISA and PEP sales	- £302.1 million (January 2007 - £231 million)

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK Domiciled funds

Funds under management 
Funds under management of UK domiciled investment funds were £433.2 billion in January, a fall of 7% from December and 3% lower than January 2007. UK domiciled ISA funds under management of £50.2 billion were down 8% from the previous month and 2% lower than the previous year.

Graph showing UK domiciled funds under management since January 2007

ISA sales 
Net sales of UK domiciled investment fund ISAs saw outflows of £68.4 million in January compared to inflows of £17.0 million in December and £30.9 million in January 2007.

The UK sector with the highest gross ISA sales in January was UK All Companies accounting for 26%.  In net terms the most popular ISA sector was Cautious Managed.

UK domiciled net sales by asset class 
There was £550 million worth of net retail outflows: equities saw the largest outflows of £867 million, including £77 million outflows from property funds.  The most popular asset class was bonds with £184 million inflows.  Institutional holdings of unit trusts and OEICs saw outflows of £93 million with bonds accounting for inflows of £708 million, while there was £873 million worth of outflows from equities and property.  Overall outflows from property funds were £274 million, compared with £537 million in December.

Graph showing net retail sales of UK domiciled funds over the last 13 months

Gross retail sales by sector and distribution channel
The most popular sector in January was UK All Companies, representing 17% of gross retail sales of UK domiciled funds. 82% of gross retail sales into the UK All Companies sector were via intermediaries.

The most popular retail distribution channel for UK domiciled funds in January was intermediaries representing 87% of gross retail business. Gross ISA sales of £241 million from fund supermarkets made them the dominant distributor of ISAs, followed by £168 million through sales force/tied agents.

Best selling sector for UK domiciled funds 
The Global Growth sector was the most popular UK domiciled net retail sector with inflows of £154 million.  The sector with the biggest outflows in January was UK All Companies with outflows of £439million.

OVERSEAS FUNDS

Overseas funds under management of £16.3 billion in January saw a 9% decrease from the previous month, while overseas ISA assets of £348 million fell very slightly from December.

Net retail sales of overseas domiciled funds in January saw outflows of £296 million. Net retail sales of overseas domiciled investment fund ISAs were £0.6 million in January, the same as in December.

Summary of overseas domiciled funds - FUM and sales 

Richard Saunders, Chief Executive of the IMA commented:

"January saw a continuation of the outflows experienced in the last two months of 2007. While it is traditionally a slower month in the run-up to the ISA season - which many are predicting will be a quiet one - broader market conditions have exacerbated this.  January's outflows were concentrated in equity funds, with property fund outflows down to about half the levels of November and December."