Mutual Fund Sales Down 14% in March

Mutual fund sales have declined in the wake of RRSP season, but bond funds made a remarkable comeback.

The total net sales of mutual funds came to $9.29 billion, a decline of 14% compared to the $10.8 billion reported in February. However, this is still 20% higher than the $7.73 billion reported in the same month in 2014.

The Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) says that mutual fund assets under management (AUM) increased slightly in March, up by 0.2% from the previous month to a total of $1,220 billion. Since March last year, total mutual fund assets have increased by $160.8 billion or 15.2%.

Balanced funds’ net sales were $7.38 billion in March, a drop of almost 16% compared to the net sales of $8.56 billion reported in February. Year-to-date, net sales for balanced funds were up by 14% for a total $20.3 billion.

Equity fund sales were also down in March, with net sales of $888.3 million. This is 55% lower than the $1.99 billion recorded in February. Year-to-date, net sales for equity funds have also declined, dropping 32.7% to $3.43 billion from $5.10 billion.

Bond fund sales soared in March, up by 81% to a total of $1.37 billion compared to net sales of $2.60 million in February. Year-to-date, bonds funds have made an impressive recovery, with sales of $1.52 billion compared to net redemptions of $536.7 million recorded during the same period in in 2014.