Mutual funds likely generated positive net sales in February, but the vast majority of those sales went to one firm, RBC.

According to preliminary data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada released Tuesday, net sales of mutual funds for the month are estimated to be between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.

RBC Asset Management Inc., whose assets include Phillips, Hager & North Ltd., accounted for $1.4 billion of net sales, and $1.33 billion of that was in money market funds.

IGM Financial Inc. ran a distant second to RBC, with $224 million in net sales. Fidelity Investments Canada and Dynamic Mutual Funds were the only other firms recording more than $100 million in net sales for the month.

“Sales for February were positive but muted from a year earlier”, said Pat Dunwoody, vice president of member services and communications with IFIC. “Clearly, volatility was still prevalent in markets in February which affected both the size and allocation of fund purchases this month.”

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the mutual fund industry for February will be between $473.8 billion and $478.8 billion, down approximately 2.97% from last month’s total of $491.1 billion.

IE