Investor Economics Insight April 2019

Not your typical RRSP season

Wealth managers have enjoyed a long period of positive—including record-setting—sales since the appalling market downturn of 2008. For the better part of eight years, net flows into investment funds benefitted from increasing demand from investors and advisors for equity exposure and yield provided by fixed income investments. This was not only a Canadian phenomenon; the higher tide lifted most ships globally.

The positive trend, however, ended abruptly in the latter half of 2018. The current issue of Insight documents the sales result of the all-important first quarter of 2019 in Canada (spoiler alert: sales were weak by all standards). The focus is on mutual funds and ETFs, which are examined by product structure, sponsor type and asset class. The Trendlines article looks at sales of segregated funds, paying special attention to the connectivity with mutual funds.