Responsible investment funds attracted a record £1.1bn in net retail sales in December.

Responsible investment funds saw net retail sales treble to £10bn in 2020, compared to £3.2bn in 2019.

Overall active funds saw net retail sales of £5.2bn in December, just below the record inflows of £5.4bn in November, according to data published today by the fund manager trade body the Investment Association.

Net retail sales reached £6.2bn in December, the second largest monthly net retail sales figure on record after November.

The UK’s funds under management reached a record £1.4trn at the end of 2020, after a tumultuous year where FUM was £1.1trn at the end of March.

Equity funds were the best-selling asset class in December, attracting net retail sales of £2.5bn, buoyed by strong net retail sales for global equity funds of £1.5bn.

Net retail sales for 2020 reached £31bn, with inflows in Q2 and in Q4 exceeding £10bn. Total net retail sales for 2019 were £10bn.

Chris Cummings, chief executive of the Investment Association, said: “December saw a continuation of the strong net retail sales of November, with the fund market buoyed to a positive end-of-year position. Growing positivity around Coronavirus vaccines helped boost stock market performance in December which in turn fuelled investor appetite for stocks and shares funds, with investors placing £2.5bn into these funds throughout the month.

"The fund market accumulated strong sales over 2020 and ends a tumultuous year with record funds under management. Continued economic uncertainty, set against the progress made on a national vaccine roll-out, means we enter 2021 with cautious optimism.”