The Investment Funds Institute of Canada is predicting another month of positive fund sales for December.

IFIC reported yesterday that, based on a sample of preliminary data from some of its members, net new sales for the month of December are estimated to be between $700 million to $1.1 billion. “Net sales for the month of December are expected to be about $900 million. The industry has garnered sales of almost $2.1 billion within the last three months. This month will probably be the highest net sales of the year,” said Tom Hockin, IFIC’s president and CEO, in a news release.

The bulk of the sales seems to be coming from the bank-owned firms, led by net sales of $229 million by RBC Asset Management. RBC is joined by TD Asset Management, BMO Funds and Scotia Securities as the only firms with at least $150 million in monthly net sales.

Franklin Templeton was the only other firm recording as much as $100 million in net sales. There were also strong sales evident at Brandes, CIBC, Mackenzie and Guardian.

Although most firms had small positive net sales, several continue to suffer redemptions. AGF, Fidelity and AIC each had more than $100 million in monthly net redemptions. PH&N had net redemptions, too, for a change.

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the industry at the end of December will be in the range of $435 to $440 billion, up approximately 3.5% from last month’s total of $423.6 billion.

“Assets in the industry increased 3.5% or $15 billion in the month of December, the largest monthly increase in assets for the year. This also marks the highest that net assets in the industry have been since March 2002,” Hockin added.