The Canadian investment fund industry continued its upward trajectory in February, with both mutual funds and exchange-traded funds reaching unprecedented asset levels for the second consecutive month, according to fresh data from the Securities and Investment Management Association (SIMA).
SIMA's Tuesday report revealed that mutual fund assets under management climbed to $2.6 trillion by month-end, marking a $76.5-billion or 3% gain from January. The growth extends a positive momentum that began at the start of the year.
The ETF sector demonstrated even stronger relative performance, with AUM surging to $781.9 billion—a $38-billion jump representing 5.1% monthly growth.
A notable shift emerged in mutual fund investor preferences, as balanced funds dominated net sales with $5.2 billion in inflows. SIMA characterized this as "a trend not seen since February 2022," highlighting the category's resurgence from the $1.5 billion it attracted in January.
Fixed-income mutual funds maintained steady appeal, capturing $2.6 billion in net creations, though this represented a decline from January's $4.2-billion intake.
Equity mutual funds reversed their previous month's outflows, recording $1.8 billion in net sales after experiencing $588 million in redemptions during January. Specialty mutual funds contributed $1.2 billion in net sales, slightly below the prior month's $1.4 billion.
Money-market mutual funds continued experiencing outflows, though the $297 million in net redemptions showed improvement compared to January's $742-million exodus.
Aggregate mutual fund net sales reached $10.5 billion in February, approaching double the $5.8 billion recorded in the preceding month.
Within the ETF landscape, equity products maintained their leadership position, attracting $11.6 billion in net sales, though this represented a modest decline from January's $14.1 billion.
Bond ETFs strengthened their position with $4.4 billion in creations, surpassing January's $3.8-billion figure.
Balanced ETFs saw incremental growth to $1.8 billion from $1.7 billion, while specialty ETFs pulled back to $1.2 billion from the previous month's $1.9 billion.
Money-market ETFs recorded $131 million in net redemptions during February, deepening from January's $88-million outflow.
Overall ETF net sales totaled $18.9 billion for the month, representing a decrease from January's $21.4 billion. However, SIMA noted this figure still exceeded the combined net sales from January and February of the previous year.
