The Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) is making more statistical information available by distributing information based on two views of the industry.

The first view is the existing method of providing statistics on proprietary fund-of-funds and stand-alone funds.

The second, new view will also look at non-proprietary funds, fund-on-funds and wrap accounts.

This new view will capture the assets under management (AUM) and net sales that clients have invested directly in the mutual funds of each IFIC member.

Members’ AUM and sales will include all assets in fund wrap programs, including the stand-alone funds supplied to the fund by third-party providers, indicating the product that the end investor actually purchases. Steps have been taken to ensure there is no double counting, IFIC says.

The three reports are available under: Mutual Fund AUM & Net Sales by IFIC Member; IFIC Statistical Overview by Asset Class and IFIC Statistical Overview by CIFSC Categories at www.ific.ca.

Since the end of 2003 there has been significant growth in fund wraps, IFIC notes. According to statistics from Investor Economics, fund wrap assets grew at a compound average annual rate of 25.6% from the end of 2002 to June 2006. During this same period, the growth in assets of stand-alone mutual funds was 10%. On a year-over-year basis, fund wraps grew by 25.8% in 2005 and stand-alone funds posted a 13.1% growth rate.

“The new method of showing where both the money is managed and where clients are making their purchases, will enable IFIC members and the public to better track investor trends and behaviour,” said Joanne De Laurentiis, president & CEO of IFIC.

The new reporting, along with the enhanced information first announced last fall, will be provided for the final statistics each month.