Mutual fund net sales are estimated to be between $450 million to $950 million for August, according to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

Once again, RBC Asset Management Inc. led the way by a wide margin, with $738 million in total net sales. Its closest rival was CI Investments, which had $104 million in monthly net sales (the only other firm with more than $100 million in net sales).

However, the vast majority of RBC’s sales came in its money market funds. Its long-term funds recorded just $112 million in net sales. BMO Funds was the long-term sales leader at $145 million. RBC and Dynamic Mutual Funds tied for second with $112 million in sales, with CI close behind at $108 million.

Several firms recorded net redemptions in August, led by AIM Trimark, which had $272 million in redemptions. CIBC Asset Management saw $134 million in redemptions. AIC, Franklin Templeton, Mackenzie Financial, Manulife Investments and Altamira all recorded net redemptions,too.

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the industry at the end of August will be in the range of $606 billion to $611 billion, up approximately 1.6% from last month’s total of $599.2 billion.

The sales estimate is based on a sample of preliminary data from some of its members. “Given that August has traditionally been an unpredictable month during which we’ve seen both net sales and net redemptions in the past few years, this a strong showing for the mutual fund industry,” said Joanne De Laurentiis, IFIC’s president & CEO, in a new release.

“More exciting still is this month’s estimate of over $600 billion in total assets under management, which would put the industry near to its highest asset level ever,” De Laurentiis said.