Fund sales soar in February

The Canadian mutual fund industry capped off RRSP season with a flurry of sales, with investors buying between $2.75 billion and $3.25 billion worth of funds in February, according to preliminary estimates from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

“With long-term fund sales close to $5 billion for February and above the $8 billion mark for the first two months of 2010 its clear that we are starting to see not just rebalancing activity but new money moving into mutual funds this RRSP season,” said Pat Dunwoody, vice-president of member services and communications with IFIC.

“Asset growth has also been very strong with assets under management increasing by $119 billion or 25% since last year’s low.”

IFIC estimates net industry assets for February will be between $593.6 billion and $598.6 billion, up about 1.97% from last month’s total of $584.6 billion.

• Read: Canadian fund returns golden in February

February was a good month for DundeeWealth, which reported net sales of $569 million, on gross sales of $956 million. Net long term fund sales totaled $520 million, while short-term funds brought in an additional $14 million. Total mutual fund assets under management were $27.3 billion.

Fidelity posted total net inflows of $552 million on total gross sales of $996 million.

CI Financial reported net retail fund sales of $346 million, including $328 million in long-term funds and $18 million in money market funds. Gross sales for the month were $1 billion, bringing year to date gross sales to $1.8 billion. Retail AUM increased 2.2% in February to $62.5 billion.

Investors Group reported total net mutual fund sales of $211.2 million, with $159 million in net long term fund sales, and $52 million in money market inflows. Gross sales of long-term funds totaled $684.2 million. Total mutual fund assets under management were $57.5 billion at the end of February, up from $44.2-billion at the same time last year.

Mackenzie Financial announced total net mutual fund redemptions of $84.2 million, with $4.8 million coming from long term funds and $79.4 million flowing from money markets. Gross long-term funds were $503 million. The company saw its overall retail fund AUM grow 24.1% on a year-over-year basis, to $40.2 billion.

Counsel Portfolio Services reported $5 million in net new money, with long-term funds attracting $1.1 million and money market funds bringing in $3.9 million. Gross long-term fund sales were $39.9 million. Total mutual fund AUM at month-end was $2.17 billion, up from $1.61 billion at the end of February 2009.

AGF Management reported net redemptions of $114.7 million, including $96.4 million from long-term funds and $18.3 million from money market funds. Gross sales of long-term funds were $266 million. Total mutual fund assets under management were $22.1 billion.

Mavrix Fund Management reported net redemptions of $4.2 million on gross sales of $7.6 million. Assets under management increased 1.87% in February to $379.5 million.

(03/03/10)