The Canadian mutual fund industry managed about $3 billion in net sales for December, according to estimates from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

IFIC reported today that, based on a sample of preliminary data from some of its members, net sales of mutual funds for December are estimated to be between $2.8 billion and $3.3 billion.

“Fund sales were strong in December at about $3.1 billion largely due to continued strength in money market fund sales,” said Pat Dunwoody, vice president of member services and communications with IFIC, in a release.

“December sales helped cap a noteworthy year for the fund industry, with total long-term fund sales estimated to be the highest since 1998 and money market fund sales ending the year in positive territory for the first time since 2001,” she added.

RBC Asset Management dominated the December sales, recording almost $1.4 billion in net sales. Almost all of RBC’s sales were on the money market side, at $1.26 billion.

On an overall basis, TD Asset Management was a distant second with $441 million in net sales, followed by Scotia Securities at $336 million and CIBC Asset Management at $309 million.

Looking just at long-term funds, Scotia was the monthly leader with $295 million in net sales. Fidelity Investments came second with $241 million in sales. Dynamic Mutual Funds ranked third at $217 million.

A number of firms were in long-term net redemptions, including AIM Trimark, AIC and CIBC. TD had just $9 million in long-term net sales, and RBC only generated $113 million worth.

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the mutual fund industry at the end of December will be in the range of $694.8 billion to $699.8 billion, up approximately 0.16% from last month’s total of $696.2 billion.