Early estimates suggest that September mutual fund sales will be between $1.6 billion and $2.1 billion, another strong showing.

The Investment Funds Institute of Canada today reported that, based on a sample of preliminary data from some of its members, net new sales for the month are estimated at more than $1.8 billion, which would be the highest September sales figure since 1997.

The banks continue to dominate sales, with RBC Asset Management boasting $539 million in monthly net sales, followed by $378 million at TD Asset Management and $223 million for BMO Funds.

The only other firm to crack the $200 million barrier was PH&N, which had $242 million in net sales for the month. In fact, only three other firms saw more than $100 million in net sales, CI Investments, Manulife and Acuity Funds.

On the negative side of the ledger, AIC recorded another $200 million in redemptions. It was joined by AIM Trimark and CIBC Asset Management, which had $137 million and $110 million in net redemptions respectively. However, CIBC’s overall redemption result was entirely due to $191 million in redemptions from its money market funds; its long-term funds had $81 million in net sales.

Fidelity recorded $40 million in redemptions, too. And, Altamira also reported a modest $18 million in redemptions.

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the industry at the end of September will be in the range of $546 to $551 billion, up approximately 0.7% from last month’s total of $546.9 billion. This is the fifth consecutive month that assets in the industry have increased.