UK savers took £137 million out of funds in October 2023, according to data published by the Investment Association (IA), down from September’s £1.5 billion outflow.
Key findings for October 2023:
- Equity funds and Fixed Income funds saw outflows of £376 million and £429 million respectively.
- Mixed Asset funds turned to a mild outflow of £3 million this month, following last month’s £781 million inflow.
- Outflows were offset by £938 million of inflows into Money Market funds.
- Tracker Funds experienced outflows of £331 million – the highest outflow on record.
- UK All Companies was the worst-selling sector this month, with outflows of £939 million – the highest outflows since April. Meanwhile, Short Term Money Market was the best-selling sector, with inflows of £650 million.
- Responsible Investment funds remained negative in October, with outflows of £530 million, down from last month’s record outflow.
Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said:
“While we saw a smaller outflow in October following September’s £1.5 billion outflow, it remains a challenging environment for investors. Short Term Money Market was the best-selling sector, with investors parking their savings and taking a “wait-and-see” approach as the cost-of-living crisis continues the impact the ability to invest.
“We may see savers re-allocate their funds once market conditions have calmed down. However, in the meantime, investors are gravitating towards safer asset classes, and UK Gilts and other Government Bond funds were selling well in October.”
FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT AND NET SALES
| Funds Under Management | Net Retail Sales | Net Institutional Sales | |
| October 2023 | £1.35 trillion | -£137 million | -£4.3 billion |
| October 2022 | £1.35 trillion | -£3.9 billion | -£9.8 billion |
BEST SELLING INVESTMENT ASSOCIATION SECTORS
The five best-selling Investment Association sectors for October 2023 were:
- Short Term Money Market with net retail sales of £650 million.
- Volatility Managed with net retail sales of £268 million.
- Japan followed with net retail sales of £229 million.
- Specialist Bond with net retail sales of £221 million.
- UK Gilts was fifth with net retail sales of £206 million.
The worst-selling Investment Association sector in October 2023 was UK All Companies, which experienced outflows of £939 million.
NET RETAIL SALES BY ASSET CLASS
Money Market saw inflows of £938 million.
Mixed Asset funds saw outflows of £3 million.
Property funds experienced £33 million in outflows.
Other funds saw £234 million in outflows.
Equity funds saw outflows of £376 million.
Fixed Income funds saw outflows of £429 million.
NET RETAIL SALES OF EQUITY FUNDS BY REGION*
Japan funds experienced inflows of £229 million.
North America funds saw inflows of £70 million.
Asia funds saw net retail outflows of £81 million.
Europe funds saw outflows of £527 million.
Global funds saw net retail outflows of £989 million.
UK funds saw outflows of £1.3 billion.
TRACKER FUNDS
Tracker funds saw net retail outflows of £331 million in October 2023. Tracker funds under management stood at £294 billion at the end of October. Their overall share of industry funds under management was 21.8%.
RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FUNDS
Responsible investment funds saw a net retail outflow of £530 million in October 2023. Responsible investment funds under management stood at £92 billion at the end of October. 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 £12.1 billion, representing a market share of 32.7%.
Gross retail sales through other UK Intermediaries including IFAs totalled £19.2 billion, representing a market share of 52.1%.
Gross retail sales for Discretionary Manager totalled £1.8 billion, representing a market share of 4.8%.
Direct gross retail sales totalled £836 million, representing a market share of 2.3%.
In October, Execution only intermediaries totalled £194 million in gross retail sales and accounted for 0.5% of the market.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Helen Ayres, Head of Communications: helen.ayres@theia.org.
T: +44 7596 872575
Arianna Schardt, Communications Executive: arianna.schardt@theia.org
T: +44 (0)20 7269 4625
Ismail Abdi, Communications Trainee, ismail.abdi@theia.org
+44 7596 872575
IA press office: Press@theia.org
Notes for Editors
To see a breakdown of the fund data referenced in this press release, please see all of the tables October-2023 Monthly Press Release final.pdf.
The Investment Association’s figures for fund sales cover retail and institutional sales in authorised unit trusts and open-ended investment companies (OEICs) provided by our membership to UK investors. The figures do not include investment trusts and ETFs.
Each month small revisions to figures have been made since the previous press release. This reflects additional information received by The Investment Association.
Net retail sales comprise total retail sales minus repurchases (including switches between funds), thus the figures can result in a negative figure or outflow.
* Regional breakdown for equity funds
The following Investment Association sectors have been grouped together to compile the figures for regional equity sales:
| Asia | Europe | Global | Japan | North America | UK |
| Asia Pacific excl. Japan | Europe excl. UK | Global | Japan | North America | UK All Companies |
| Asia Pacific incl. Japan | Europe incl. UK | Global Emerging Markets | Japanese Smaller Companies | North America Smaller Companies | UK Equity Income |
| China/Greater China | Europe Smaller Companies | Global Equity Income | UK Smaller Companies | ||
| India/Indian Subcontinent | Specialist | ||||
| Healthcare | |||||
| Technology and Technology innovation | |||||
| Financials and Financial innovation | |||||
Direct Channels
Direct includes sales forces and tied agents, private clients and other direct to investor sales without intermediation.
** The Investment Association’s ISA figures are based on information collected from fund companies and five fund platforms (AEGON, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Quilter, and Transact) where they are the ISA provider. Fund business through other ISA providers such as wealth managers is not included. The Investment Association’s figures cover about three-quarters of the whole of the market for funds held in ISAs.
About the Investment Association (IA):
The IA champions UK investment management, supporting British savers, investors and businesses. Our 250 members manage £10.0 trillion of assets and the investment management industry supports 122,000 jobs across the UK.
Our mission is to make investment better. Better for clients, so they achieve their financial goals. Better for companies, so they get the capital they need to grow. And better for the economy, so everyone prospers.
Our purpose is to ensure investment managers are in the best possible position to:
- Build people’s resilience to financial adversity
- Help people achieve their financial aspirations
- Enable people to maintain a decent standard of living as they grow older
- Contribute to economic growth through the efficient allocation of capital.
The money our members manage is in a wide variety of investment vehicles including authorised investment funds, pension funds and stocks and shares ISAs.
The UK is the second largest investment management centre in the world, after the US and manages over a third (37%) of all assets managed in Europe.
