Investor Economics Insight May 2020

Q1 Provincial Update: An Unusual RRSP Season Amid the Covid-19 Crisis

Judging from the first two months of 2020, investment fund inflows in the first quarter were on track to post a new record high—until the crisis hit. As capital market valuations declined sharply at the end of February and into March, near record inflows became record net redemptions. The distribution of sales and redemptions proved uneven across the country, with some provinces weathering the storm better than others.

The current issue of Insight examines the Q1 sales results, including net flows, gross sales, redemption and asset growth trends across the country, plus rankings of best-selling asset managers in each region. A special feature in this report compares flow activity for funds and deposits in Q1 2020 to previous years. The Trendlines article at the end of the report presents an update of assets and flows in the group retirement platform.