Mutual funds also record a strong month with most asset classes posting net sales
September proved a good month for Canada’s investment funds industry with net sales revealed across ETFs and mutual funds.
ETFs posted net sales of $12.4 billion, surging from the previous month’s $7.7 billion, with all major asset classes posting net sales according to the latest stats from SIMA.
Leading the sales were equity ETFs with a net of almost $5.8 billion (up from $3.7 billion in August) while bond ETFs posted net sales of $3.7 billion (up from 1.9 billion). There were also gains for net sales of speciality ETFs at $1.7 billion (up from $1.3 billion) and balanced funds with $1.1 billion (up from $846 million). Money market funds also jumped to the positive side with net sales of $236 million, having recorded net redemptions of $23 million in August.
Canadian ETFs have soared past their $75 billion total net sales for the whole of 2024, with three months to go. Net sales year-to-date of $86.1 billion is closing in on double the $47 billion for the same period of 2024.
The funds have also seen total assets increase to $663.8 billion by the end of September, having gained 5.3% from a month earlier or $33.7 billion. This is the largest monthly increase of 2025 so far and year-to-date, ETF assets have grown by $146.3 billion or 22.7%.
Mutual funds
While the gains were no so impressive, Canada’s mutual funds also improved on their previous month with net sales of almost $3.8 billion (up from $3 billion in August), marking the fifth consecutive month in positive territory.
With the exception of money market funds which saw net redemptions of $228 million (down from net sales of $25 million), all the major asset classes posted net sales last month. The gains were led by bond funds at $2.3 billion, only around $20 million more than in August, while equity funds flipped to $49 million net sales from $435 net redemptions in the previous month, and speciality saw $670 million net sales (up from $609 million).
The best showing was for balanced funds which recorded net sales of $1 billion compared to $620 million in August.
Mutual fund assets saw the second-largest growth of the year in September, bringing total assets close to $2.5 trillion. Year-to-date, mutual funds rose by $246.2 billion or 11%.
