Despite market volatility at the end of the tax year, British investors piled into UK platforms in April, according to data released earlier today by Finscape, FE fundinfo’s distribution intelligence tool.
In total, there were £20bn of gross flows into funds on UK platforms in April, of which more than £11bn went into active funds. While geopolitical volatility was a headwind for the period, roughly £2.3bn was added in net flows, with passives taking the largest share at £1.5bn.
Bella Caridade-Ferreira, head of insight at FE fundinfo and Finscape lead, said: “Stockmarkets have so far resisted the fall-out of the Middle East war, and with the cash ISA allowance for under-65s set to halve and pensions brought into inheritance tax from April 2027, investors had every reason to maximise their allowances while they still can.”
In terms of which platforms did best, BlackRock led the month for gross sales, up £2.2bn, followed by Vanguard close behind at £2.1bn. After that there is a significant gap, with LGIM following with gross sales of roughly £1.7bn.
However, Amundi took the crown with £721m in net flows, just barely outperforming BlackRock at £651m. This was primarily a consequence of strong demand for Amundi’s fixed income funds, driven by high yields, defensive behaviour from investors and the expectation of a rate-cutting cycle until geopolitics started to bite.
See also: Schroders: Half of advisers shift towards defensive assets due to recent volatility
Moving down to active funds only, this same defensive mindset was visible.
RLAM and Fidelity delivered the highest gross sales for active managers, with £739m and £696m added respectively. Meanwhile, in terms of net sales, Schroders led the group, attracting £100m more than second-place Dimensional.
“The firm, currently in the process of being acquired by Nuveen, drew flows into its actively managed portfolio services, as well as its Global Strategy, Japan Equity, Strategic Bond and Global Equity Income funds,” the report noted.
