FE fundinfo's Distribution intelligence tool Finscape: UK fund flows in Q3 2026

Index sweeps the board as active slips into outflow

Oil set the tone for the third quarter. With the Middle East conflict keeping crude high, inflation climbed to 3.1% and gilt yields hit multi-decade highs. Investors followed the oil price. Gold and energy funds reversed first-half outflows to take £92m and £50m, and inflation-linked bond funds gathered £148m. Gilts went the other way, losing £143m after taking £259m in the first half. Overall flows held steady at £48.9bn gross and £2.5bn net, and index funds took all of it and more: 123% of net flow.

ON-PLATFORM FUND ACTIVITY - Q3 2026
Q3 2026	Total AUM	Gross flows	Net flows
All funds (£m)	566,222	48,907	2,473
Active only (£m)	372,123	29,696	(576)
Index only (£m)	194,099	19,211	3,049
Active market share (%)	65.7	60.7	(23.3)
Index market share (%)	34.3	39.3	123.3

FUND MANAGERS BY GROSS SALES, Q3 2026 (£m)			FUND MANAGERS BY NET SALES, Q3 2026 (£m)
1	Vanguard	5,354	1	HSBC	754
2	BlackRock	4,681	2	L&G	488
3	L&G	3,796	3	Dimensional	479
4	HSBC	3,123	4	BlackRock	409
5	Fidelity	2,871	5	Orbis	301
6	Quilter	2,018	6	RLAM	281
7	RLAM	1,944	7	Amundi	271
8	Dimensional	1,709	8	Aberdeen	221
9	Artemis	1,411	9	Artemis	201
10	Aberdeen	1,088	10	UBS	194

ACTIVE-ONLY FUND MANAGERS BY GROSS SALES, Q3 2026 (£m)			ACTIVE-ONLY FUND MANAGERS BY NET SALES, Q3 2026 (£m)
1	Quilter	760	1	RLAM	153
2	RLAM	632	2	Quilter	127
3	Dimensional	502	3	Dimensional	103
4	Artemis	419	4	HSBC	83
5	Fidelity	342	5	Orbis	82
6	L&G	293	6	Aegon	75
7	Omnis	280	7	Scottish Widows	53
8	HSBC	275	8	Pimco	37
9	Schroders	244	9	Lazard	34
10	Jupiter	221	10	LGT	33

Active managers sold plenty. Gross sales of £29.7bn gave them 61% of on-platform business, broadly in line with their 66% share of assets. The trouble came on the way out. Redemptions left active with a net outflow of £576m, while index funds turned £19.2bn of gross sales into £3.0bn of net.

The net table is led by HSBC with £754m, followed by L&G and Dimensional, all three carried by strong index and systematic ranges. Among active houses, RLAM and Quilter came out on top, and the money went into multi-asset blends and short-term money market funds rather than stock selection. Orbis continued to find favour with advisers, taking £82m into its global balanced and global equity funds.

By sector, UK equities bore the brunt. UK all companies lost £709m and UK equity income a further £277m, with Asia Pacific excluding Japan down £272m. Volatility managed funds took £550m and global mixed bond £523m, and another £236m went into short-term money market. Caution is doing the buying.

Bella Caridade-Ferreira, Head of Insight at FE fundinfo and Finscape Lead said: “Active houses sold £29.7bn over the quarter and still finished in outflow, but the pressure is on existing books rather than new business. Advisers are moving client money into outsourced models that increasingly use index-building blocks, and the funds losing out are the concentrated global equity names that defined the last decade. With the Budget on 28 October and a rate rise now a live possibility, the fourth quarter will test how calm investors really are.”

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About Finscape

Finscape is FE fundinfo’s distribution intelligence tool. Finscape publishes Finscape Fundamentals, a quarterly deep-dive available exclusively to asset management clients. To find out more, contact Bella Caridade-Ferreira, [email protected].

About FE fundinfo

FE fundinfo is a leading financial data company connecting the investment industry in the UK, Europe and Asia Pacific through a single integrated platform: Nexus.

Nexus connects fragmented data across the investment product lifecycle, turning it into a strategic asset that drives cost efficiency, manages risk and enables growth.

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Press release

23 Oct 2026