Mutual fund gross sales also hit an all-time high of $383.8 billion in 2021. The combination of positive net sales and positive market impact increased mutual fund assets by $293.1 billion.
Balanced mutual funds had total sales of $63 billion, accounting for 56% of total net sales; Meanwhile, equity mutual funds represented a third of net sales for the year with $37 billion. IFIC said the relatively high level of net sales of both balanced funds and equity funds, compared to the last 10 years, made 2021 unique when most of the sales went towards balanced mutual funds.
The report also includes figures for ETF net sales, which reached $58.7 billion in 2021. With mutual funds, that represents the biggest year on record for net sales, as well as 41% year-over-year growth in 2020.
At the end of 2021, IFIC said Canadian mutual funds had $2.08 trillion in assets, spread across 114 fund companies and 3,298 funds. Meanwhile, the ETF’s assets in 40 fund providers and 964 ETFs totaled $347 billion, slightly off the 1,177 in National Bank’s Canadian ETF Flow Report.
