Between April and June LGIM attracted net retail sales of £1.1bn, just ahead of BlackRock which took in sales if £1.07bn. According to the report this represented over a 100% increase in LGIM’s net business and took its quarterly inflows to a record level.
BlackRock still topped the gross retail sales rankings, with sales of £4.76bn over the period, trailed in second by Fidelity (£2.55bn) and LGIM in third with gross sales of £2.4bn.
“Legal & General Investment Management did particularly well in the second quarter as its push to increase its distribution channels over the past two years paid off,”, said Helen Pridham, author of the report.
“Strong sales of its tracker funds were the major contributor. Among its actively managed funds, L&G Property was a top seller.”
Of the top selling groups, the report showed in total there was an average 11.6% increase in net inflows and a 4.5% jump in gross sales.
Pridham said: “Higher net sales in the second quarter reflect not only good new business flows but a lower level of redemptions compared to the first quarter indicating greater enthusiasm among investors for long term investment.”
Sitting in sixth place in the table with net retail sales of £421.2m, Baillie Gifford saw the highest jump in net inflows of more than 150%. Pridham said this was down to growing demand for the group’s regional equity funds, such as Japan and Europe “as investors sought to benefit from the higher gains currently being produced in these markets”.
Looking out for the rest of 2017, Pridham says the outlook for fund sales remains positive.
“With interest rates remaining so low, investors appear increasingly prepared to take the extra risk of putting their money into funds to gain better returns,” she said.
