UK retail fund flows recovered sharply in the second quarter of this year, with net sales close to £5bn, according to the latest Pridham report from ISS Market Intelligence.
The rebound follows more than £4bn in outflows in the first quarter and marks an improvement on the same period in 2025.
Meanwhile, gross sales climbed to over £90bn, reflecting a significant increase in overall transaction activity across the market.
Report author Benjamin Reed-Hurwitz, head of research development in EMEA and North America at ISS MI, said: “The field of winners [has] widened, and while the largest passive houses led the way, a good spread of active managers also enjoyed a strong quarter.”
Of the over 45 UK fund groups operating in the UK and supplying data for the report, 21 achieved positive net retail sales in the three months to June, while 22 improved their net sales compared with the previous quarter.
As shown in the table below, the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock topped the table, recording £11.1bn in onshore retail gross sales in the second quarter.
Source: ISS Market Intelligence, The Pridham Report
“The preferences of today’s fund selectors are distinctly different from yesteryear’s fund selectors and as a result, opportunity is moving to more vistas,” said Reed-Hurwitz.
“Greater adoption of offshore funds and the resulting rise in net sales for these funds is case in point.”
Indeed, fund flows in the three months to June were largely driven by offshore funds, with Vanguard reporting record retail offshore net sales at £1.6bn, supported by passive fixed income. Alongside these, onshore multi-asset flows were also strong.
HSBC Asset Management also posted a positive quarter across multi-asset onshore and retail offshore strategies, while Franklin Templeton achieved record offshore sales led by US equity.
Also in the table, T. Rowe Price and Columbia Threadneedle logged £861.5m and £368.4m respectively in offshore retail net sales.
Source: ISS Market Intelligence, The Pridham Report
Reed Hurwitz said: “Looking ahead, the question is whether this momentum carries in the third and fourth quarters. For the past two years, we have seen strong second quarters only for the second half of the year to disappoint. And with continued economic and political uncertainty on both the global and domestic stages, investor sentiment may well turn as the year progresses.”