Flows into passive funds almost hit £1bn in March despite investors pulling £205m the overall UK authorised and recognised funds space, according to the latest stats from the Investment Association.
Tracker funds saw £951m net retail inflows last month, taking their overall share of the UK funds industry to 16.1%.
While the active versus passive debate died a long time ago, the IA’s latest stats do highlight the direction of travel for the UK funds industry.
Last November, the IA launched a consultation into the possible inclusion of ETFs within its sectors, with over 200 ETFs up for inclusion across 37 sectors. A move that should further increase the flows into ETFs.
One only has to look at the latest S&P Dow Jones Indices SPIVA scorecard for Europe, which found just 26.6% of UK equity funds managed to outperform in 2018.
Chris Cummings, chief executive of the Investment Association, said the reason for the £2.4bn outflows in Q1 was due to ongoing economic and Brexit uncertainty impacting investor sentiment, but active managers in the mutual fund structure have more problems than that.
