The Investment Funds Institute of Canada is dropping data for individual firms from its monthly sales statistics reporting, the trade association said Monday.

Starting with the release of the January 2011 data on February 15, IFIC’s monthly sales statistics will focus on the industry as a whole. Assets and sales data for individual firms will no longer be disclosed to the public, but member firms will continue to receive this information in their monthly data feeds.

The trade group said that the changes are being made to “better align the work of IFIC with the views of its members and the public interest.”

IFIC will also stop publishing preliminary estimates of the monthly data at the beginning of each month. It says this move is being made because, “these estimates are of limited value to investors.”

“IFIC, as the official and authoritative source of industry data, will continue to report on the significant trends and developments in our industry,” said Joanne De Laurentiis, IFIC president & CEO, in a release. “Investors will receive the information that they want and that is most relevant to their investing decisions.”

IE