Mutual funds (including exchange-traded funds or ETFs) ended January 2012 with $830 billion in assets, a $24.4 billion increase from the previous month, largely driven by equity market gains. The pace of inflows was relatively modest, with net flows into long-term funds reaching $2.8 billion during the first month of the investment (or RRSP) season. Compared to a year ago, sales were down by close to $1 billion. Fixed income funds were the largest recipient of inflows, attracting $3.6 billion during the month. Balanced funds finished with positive net flows of $188 million while equity funds experienced net redemptions of $1.1 billion. From the product structure perspective, mutual fund of funds (MFoFs) generated $1.9 billion in net flows. Meanwhile, ETF assetbase wrapped up January with a $2.8 billion increase to reach $46.0 billion. All eight ETF providers reported an increase in assets. For more details see our upcoming February 2012 issue of Insight Report http://investoreconomics.com/issue/insight-advisory-service. Posted bySandeep Gosal, sandeep@iei.ca
Market-linked GICs grew to $32 billion at the end of December 2011. Providing upside return potential with the safety net of downside risk protection, the product has been a fast-rising alternative to regular GICs. Outstanding balances were up 5.6% from June 2011, and 13.7% from last December. 2011 results mark the fourth year of strong growth for the product, fueled by low interest rates and lackluster returns offered by traditional term deposits. The cited metrics are derived from Investor Economics’ database which tracks Canadian market-linked GICs. For more information on news and developments concerning Canadian deposit industry, please see the latest issue of Deposits and Fixed Income Advisory Service http://investoreconomics.com/issue/deposit-and-fixed-income-advisory-service-2. Posted by Bonnie Ho bonnie@iei.ca.
There’s good news and there’s bad news but sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. This was particularly true of the Private Investment Counsel (PIC) channel during the second half of 2011, based on early results gleaned from a sample of our year-end survey. In the six months ended December 2011, the channel’s asset base grew, but only just (less than 1%). But the general market weakness—the Morningstar CAN Canadian Equity Balanced benchmark declined by 3.13% in the same period—places the channel’s marginal expansion in a more favorable light.
In the first half of 2011, the deposit taker-owned investment counsellors— as a result of both acquisitions and organic growth—overtook the independently-owned firms in terms of aggregate assets under management. In the second half of 2011, both competitor cohorts seem to have struggled to gather assets. The upcoming Winter 2012 issue of the Fee-based Report (http://investoreconomics.com/issue/the-fee-based-report-2) will feature an in-depth discussion of the competitive landscape of the PIC channel. Posted by Kate Betts-Wilmott Kate@iei.ca.