Press Release

Quarterly Investment Fund Statistics

Funds Of Funds, Tracker And Ethical Data - Q2 2008

8 August 2008

Total investment funds under management £425.2 billion
Funds under management in funds of funds £33.3 billion
Net retail sales of funds of funds £1.1 billion
Tracker funds under management £23.8 billion
Net retail sales of tracker funds -£0.7 million
Ethical funds under management £5.2 billion
Net retail sales of ethical funds £49.5 million

Funds of Funds - funds under management
Funds under management at the end of Q2 2008 reached £33.3 billion, an increase of 2% from the previous quarter and 4% higher than the same quarter in 2007. Balanced funds continued to account for the majority of funds under management, representing 67% of assets, followed by 19% in equity funds.

Funds of funds - net sales
Total net sales were £1.1 billion in Q2 2008, an increase of 6% on Q2 2007 and a 67% increase on Q1 2008.  The most popular sector sector in Q2 2008 was Specialist, accounting for net inflows of £447 million closely followed by Cautious Managed with £417 million net sales. 

Tracker funds
Funds under management in Q2 2008 were £23.8 billion, a decrease of 3% from the previous quarter and 13% down from the £27.4 billion seen in Q2 2007. Retail sales saw a net outflow of £0.7 million in Q2 2008 compared with an inflow of £64.3 million in Q1 and an outflow of £15.3 million in Q2 2007. The most popular distribution channel for gross retail tracker sales was intermediaries, accounting for 64% of sales.

Ethical funds
Ethical funds under management were £5.2 billion in Q2 2008, a decrease from the previous quarter's £5.4 billion; funds under management during the same quarter the previous year were £5.7 billion. Retail sales saw a net inflow in Q2 2008 of £49.5 million, compared to inflows of £27.6 million in Q1 and £137.7 million in Q2 2007.

Richard Saunders, Chief Executive at the IMA commented:

"Funds of Funds sales have proved resilient over the last nine months, while retail sales in other sectors have slowed down markedly. Sales continued to be buoyant in the second quarter.  This almost certainly reflects a wish by investors and their advisers to take advantage of the diversification they can offer in turbulent markets, but also reflects a longer underlying trend to invest in this product type."