Mutual fund sales for October are estimated to be between $1.4 billion and $1.9 billion, according to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

IFIC added that the bulk of that money is in long-term funds. “October also marked a return by investors to long-term mutual funds,” said Pat Dunwoody, IFIC’s vice president, member services and communications. “Money market funds, which had been the fund of choice for the previous two months, brought in only about $400 million in October.”

The bank-owned fund companies continue to dominate net sales, led by RBC Asset Management’s $510 million worth. It was followed by TD Asset Management, which had $382 million in net sales, and CIBC Asset Management at $202 million. Dynamic Mutual Funds was the only other firm with more than $100 million in net sales.

And, looking solely at long-term sales, there were only three firms with more than $100 million in net sales. CIBC was actually in net redemptions for its long-term funds, but it led the money market segment with $235 million in net sales into those funds.

A few other firms also finished the month in redemptions, including AIM Trimark, AIC, Altamira, Fidelity and Scotia Securities.

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the industry at the end of October will be in the range of $627 billion to $632 billion, up approximately 3.3% from last month’s total of $609.4 billion.