Mutual fund sales for May are estimated between $700 million and $1.1 billion, according to preliminary data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

The banks were leading the way once again, with RBC Asset Management Inc. generating $240 million in net sales, followed by TD Asset Management Inc. at $232 million, and BMO Investments Inc. with $171 million in overall net sales. And, once again, their long-term net sales were even stronger, ongoing redemptions from their money market funds helped drag down their totals. RBC, TD and BMO led long-term net sales, with totals of $353 million, $320 million, and $215 million, respectively.

IGM Financial Inc., CI Mutual Funds Inc. and Phillips Hager & North Investment Management Ltd. were the only other firms in IFIC’s sample to record more than $100 million in total monthly net sales. Notably, IGM and PH&N were the only firms in the sample to get some sales help from their money market funds. And, in PH&N’s case, it was particularly significant, with $32 million in money market net sales, pushing overall net sales to $101 million.

Once again, AIC Funds Ltd. was the big loser last month, suffering $279 million in net redemptions, $266 million of which came from long-term funds. Desjardins Trust, Scotia Securities Inc., Altamira Financial Services Ltd. and CIBC Securities Inc. all reported net redemptions for the month too.

“We are pleased that the industry has posted its seventh straight month of positive net sales,” says IFIC president and chief executive officer Tom Hockin. “Though these statistics are preliminary, we expect our final net sales for May to be higher than in April-and the highest net sales for May since 2001.”

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the industry at the end of May will be in the range of $517 to $522 billion, up approximately 1.7% from last month’s total of $511.5 billion.