Record fund of funds sales of £3.9bn in 2009 - IMA

Net retail fund of funds sales totaled £3.9bn last year, almost four times the 2008 figure and the highest ever recorded.

IMA figures show sales hit £3.89bn in 2009, up from £998m the previous year. Q4 sales were £1.39bn. Fof gross sales accounted for £1 in every £10 invested in all funds last year, while assets under management hit £42.7bn, up from £30bn in 2008 and the highest year-end on record. Chief executive Richard Saunders says the IMA is seeing an increasing proportion of sales going to funds invested with external managers, saying these now constitute the majority. The total invested in external funds at the end of 2009 was £23.8bn, more than 10 times the level recorded in 1999. Elsewhere...