December mutual fund net sales are estimated to be between $3 billion to $3.5 billion, according to preliminary data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

RBC Asset Management and TD Asset Management were neck in neck for the lead in net sales, generating $546 million and $536 million in sales, respectively. IGM Financial ranked third with $350 million in net sales.

Joining RBC and TD among bank-owned fund firms, CIBC Asset Management recorded $207 million in sales, followed by Scotia Securities at $192 million, and BMO Funds with $160 million.

Apart from the banks, the other firms with more than $100 million in net sales include Franklin Templeton Investments, Desjardins, and Manulife.

A handful of firms continued to see net redemptions, including AIC, Altamira and AIM Trimark.

“Preliminary estimates for December indicate net sales reached $3.3 billion, the highest net sales for a December since 1996,” said Susan Yellin, IFIC’s director of communications.

“Total net sales for all of 2006 were around $21 billion, down slightly from 2005. But sales in November and December 2006 — the traditional start of the RRSP season — outpaced the same two months in 2005.”

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the industry at the end of December will be in the range of $657 billion to $662 billion, up approximately 2.2% from last month’s total of $646.2 billion.