Baillie Gifford topped the net retail sales league tables for 2021 despite its growth style of investing falling out of favour in the latter part of the year and value investing making a return as economies emerged from the worst of the pandemic lockdowns.
The Scottish fund house raked in £3.76bn in net retail sales in 2021, just ahead of Liontrust, which attracted £3.65bn in net new flows from retail clients. HSBC Asset Management rounded out the top three, bringing in £3.27bn. In 2020, Baillie Gifford was the top-performing active house but was beaten by Blackrock for net retail sales.
Pridham Report editor Helen Pridham noted Baillie Gifford did particularly well in the first half of 2021 after its style of growth investing sent its fund performance soaring, thanks to effects of the pandemic. But business slowed as the year progressed and some investors switched to value investing, Pridham said.
That presented an opportunity for Schroders, which returned to the top-10 best gross and net retail sales in 2021. Schroder Global Recovery was one of its top-selling products last year.
Overall, 2021 was one of the best ever years for fund sales despite ongoing restrictions, the emergence of Omicron, and petrol and supply shortages.
Passive giants Blackrock and Legal & General Investment Management dominated gross retail sales, collecting £27.98bn and £15.22bn of new money, respectively, over the year. Vanguard does not provide its figures for the report.
ESG products also facilitated strong flows at the likes of Liontrust, Royal London Asset Management and Rathbones. Additionally, BMO Global Asset Management, which has a decades-long history of sustainable and ethical investing, rose into the top 20 for net sales in 2021 and in the fourth quarter it reached the top 10.
Although markets are tetchy about inflation, Pridham had an optimistic take. “Increasing inflation will help to make the argument in favour of long term investment in funds in 2022, at least for those investors whose budgets are not too squeezed.”
|
Top 10 managers by gross retail salesin 2021 (£m) |
|
Top 10 managers by net retail salesin 2021 (£m) |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
BlackRock |
£27,979.90 |
|
1 |
Baillie Gifford |
£3,764.30 |
|
2 |
Legal & General IM |
£15,216.70 |
|
2 |
Liontrust |
£3,651.00 |
|
3 |
Baillie Gifford |
£14,210.40 |
|
3 |
HSBC AM |
£3,265.80 |
|
4 |
Fidelity |
£13,273.10 |
|
4 |
Legal & General IM |
£2,412.40 |
|
5 |
Liontrust |
£10,447.00 |
|
5 |
Rathbones |
£2,077.80 |
|
6 |
HSBC AM |
£10,178.90 |
|
6 |
Royal London AM |
£1,821.90 |
|
7 |
Royal London AM |
£9,255.80 |
|
7 |
Allianz Global Investors |
£1,537.90 |
|
8 |
Schroders |
£8,364.50 |
|
8 |
BlackRock |
£1,347.10 |
|
9 |
JPMorgan AM |
£6,798.50 |
|
9 |
Fidelity |
£1,014.60 |
|
10 |
Fundsmith |
£6,249.20 |
|
10 |
Schroders |
£982.40 |
Source: The Pridham Report
|
Top 10 managers by gross retail salesin Q4 2021 (£m) |
|
Top 10 managers by net retail salesin Q4 2021 (£m) |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
BlackRock |
£7,128.70 |
|
1 |
BlackRock |
£1,965.70 |
|
2 |
Legal & General IM |
£4,050.70 |
|
2 |
Liontrust |
£840.00 |
|
3 |
Fidelity |
£2,995.40 |
|
3 |
Legal & General IM |
£695.70 |
|
4 |
Liontrust |
£2,644.00 |
|
4 |
HSBC AM |
£620.00 |
|
5 |
Baillie Gifford |
£2,626.50 |
|
5 |
Royal London AM |
£522.70 |
|
6 |
HSBC AM |
£2,425.00 |
|
6 |
Rathbones |
£484.50 |
|
7 |
Royal London AM |
£2,387.80 |
|
7 |
Fundsmith |
£281.50 |
|
8 |
Schroders |
£1,785.60 |
|
8 |
BMO Global AM |
£135.10 |
|
9 |
Fundsmith |
£1,505.20 |
|
9 |
Baillie Gifford |
£94.30 |
|
10 |
Abrdn |
£1,417.90 |
|
10 |
T Rowe Price |
£70.00 |
