ETF sales eclipse mutual funds in August: IFIC report

Exchange-traded fund (ETF) sales far outpaced mutual fund sales in August. Equity mutual funds saw net redemptions and equity ETFs produced strong sales, according to the latest data from industry trade group, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC).

IFIC reports that mutual funds recorded $78 million in long-term net redemptions last month, down from $2.6 billion in positive net sales in July.

Money market mutual funds generated $653 million in August net sales, which offset the long-term net redemptions, producing $576 million in overall net sales.

While mutual fund sales were tepid in August, IFIC says that ETFs generated $2.3 billion in long-term monthly net sales, up from $1.4 billion in July.

With the addition of $294 million in money market net sales, ETFs recorded over $2.6 billion in total net sales during the month.

The weakness in mutual fund net sales in August came as almost $1.9 billion flowed out of equity funds, overwhelming the $1.5 billion in net sales for bond funds.

ETFs had the opposite experience, as equity ETFs managed $2.3 billion in positive net sales last month, after $153 million in net redemptions in July. Bond ETFs had net redemptions of $236 million, compared to net sales of $1.4 billion in July.

IFIC reports that assets under management (AUM) rose for both mutual funds and ETFs last month, although the two sides of the industry again had distinctly different experiences.

Despite the weak net sales, mutual fund assets rose by $1.3 billion in the month to $1.57 trillion.

Conversely, ETF assets rose by $2.2 billion last month to finish with $186.0 billion in AUM — but this increase in assets was less than the category’s overall monthly net sales of $2.6 billion.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.