Mutual funds suffered net redemptions of between $1.4 billion and $1.9 billion in July, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada estimates.

IFIC reported that, based on a sample of preliminary data from some of its members, mutual funds were in net redemptions in July, as investors drifted out of money market funds and back into both long-term funds and other competitive products.

“Last month we saw the continuation of the trend we have seen since April—– the movement of assets out of money market funds and into long-term funds accompanied by strong growth in assets under management overall. Since the low at the end of February, investor assets have increased by close to $80 billion,” said Pat Dunwoody, vice president of member services and communications with IFIC.

Indeed, IFIC also estimates that industry net assets will be between $554.4 billion and $559.4 billion for July, up approximately 1.9% from June’s total of $547.1 billion.

“In addition to the trend back into long-term funds, we continue to see short-term investment money move out of money market funds and into other interest-bearing investments managed, in many cases, by the same financial institution,” Dunwoody said.

According to the IFIC data, RBC saw some of the heaviest net redemptions from its money market funds — almost $2.3 billion worth. This was only partly offset by $516 million in net sales for its long-term funds.

CIBC Asset Management was a distant second, with $629 million in redemptions from its money market funds. Most of the other top firms also recorded redemptions. Scotia Securities was a notable exception to this trend, with $143 million in net sales for its money market funds.

RBC actually led the long-term net sales, followed by CIBC ($483 million), and TD Asset Management ($295 million). However, Scotia was the overall net sales leader, with $338 million worth, followed by Dynamic Mutual Funds ($222 million), and TD.