"At the end of the day they can be useful as the lower risk/lower return element of the portfolio, complementing (or sometimes substituting) core fixed income and adding diversification."
In May, gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £9.4bn, representing a market share of 39.5 per cent (46.2 per cent in May 2017).
Other intermediaries including UK IFAs and wealth managers made gross retail sales of £8.1bn, representing a market share of 33.9 per cent (23.8 per cent in May 2017).
Direct gross retail sales in May were £1.8bn, representing a market share of 7.5 per cent (7.4 per cent in May 2017).
david.thorpe@ft.com