ETF sales defy decline in fund assets: IFIC

Both mutual fund and ETF assets declined in April, but ETFs managed positive monthly net sales, according to new data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC).

IFIC reported mutual fund assets declined by 2.0% in April, a drop of $42.0 billion, primarily driven by market weakness, although mutual funds also recorded $2.7 billion worth of net redemptions in the month.

Balanced funds led declines with $3.5 billion in monthly net redemptions.

Equity funds recorded just $15 million in redemptions, while the bond and specialty fund categories managed positive net sales of $366 million and $720 million, respectively.

IFIC said more than half of inflows into the specialty fund category “were directed towards non-traditional fixed-income funds designed to provide yield, as well as alternative credit funds.”

ETF net sales stayed in positive territory too in April, despite the decline in assets.

Equity ETFs generated over $4.0 billion in net sales, and bond ETFs added another $1.7 billion worth. Just over half of the net flows into equity ETFs went into U.S. equity funds, IFIC said.

The balanced and specialty ETF categories managed positive net sales too, with $362 million and $82 million in monthly net sales respectively.

Despite the positive sales momentum however, ETF assets were still down by $3.6 billion in the month, a decline of 0.9% from the previous month, to $413.6 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.