“It’s clear that strong market returns and declining interest rates contributed to an investor shift from deposit products, such as GICs, toward mutual funds and ETFs in order to participate more fully in market returns,” said Ian Bragg, SIMA’s vice-president of research and statistics, in a release.
Fund sales up from 2024
Mutual funds recorded net sales of $40.5 billion last year, up from $15 billion gathered in 2024.
The report noted that the gains were driven by strong performance across both equity and fixed-income markets, along with interest rates trending lower and the “diminished” appeal of GICs and other fixed-term deposit products, with investors instead favouring “investment funds that offered greater participation in market returns.” Namely, it pointed out that the S&P/TSX composite index delivered a “remarkable” 28.2% return in 2025.
Bond mutual funds “remained a key driver” of sales for the fund category in 2025, posting $29.3 billion in net sales, which the report attributed to “declining interest rates and improved fixed-income market conditions.”
Specialty mutual funds generated $11.9 billion in net inflows, driven by alternative fund strategies including alternative funds, commodity funds, real property funds and other miscellaneous funds.
Money-market mutual funds posted $7.8 billion in net sales.
Balanced mutual funds took in $2.5 billion after three consecutive years of posting redemptions.
The gains were partially offset by equity mutual funds, which recorded $11 billion in net redemptions, though the report noted that “equity exposure is also obtained through balanced funds.”
Alongside the positive net sales, mutual fund assets reached a record high of $2.5 trillion in 2025, up from $2.3 trillion the previous year. This represents a 12.7% year-over-year-increase, driven by both positive fund sales and positive market effect.
“Over the past decade, mutual fund assets have grown by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR)” of 7.5%, the report said.
Meanwhile, ETF net sales hit a record $125.8 billion in 2025, “marking the first year annual ETF inflows exceeded $100 billion.” All major ETF categories recorded positive net sales, the report said. By comparison, ETF net sales came in at $75 billion a year earlier.
Equity ETFs generated $65.5 billion in net sales, accounting for about 52.1% of total 2025 ETF inflows.
Next in line were bond ETFs, which attracted $29.8 billion, or 23.7% of the full-year net sales.
Balanced ETFs recorded $11.1 billion in net sales.
Money-market ETFs pulled in $6.9 billion, which the report said reflects “continued demand for liquidity and capital preservation.”
Specialty ETFs, which include alternative funds, commodity funds, real property funds and other miscellaneous funds, recorded a “notable increase” in net sales, with $12.5 billion gathered. They accounted for roughly 10% of full-year ETF net inflows.
ETF assets hit an all-time high of $713 billion by the end of 2025, representing a 37.8% year-over-year increase in AUM, thanks to both positive net sales and positive market effect.
ETF assets increased at a 23.1% CAGR over the past decade.
Alternative, responsible investment fund performance
Alternative investment fund net sales were “strong” among both mutual funds and ETFs in 2025.
“Alternative mutual funds recorded net sales of $7.7 billion, while alternative ETFs saw net sales of $10.4 billion, making 2025 the strongest year on record for alternative fund sales,” the report said.
The fund categories recorded $38.3 billion and $29.2 billion in total assets, respectively, by the end of 2025.
The report also analyzed responsible investment (RI) funds, which SIMA said it identifies based on the Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee’s RI Identification Framework.
It showed that RI mutual funds recorded $0.2 billion in net redemptions in 2025, while RI ETFs recorded net sales of $1.7 billion. The fund categories recorded $49.3 billion and $22.4 billion in RI assets, respectively.
“Recent moderation in RI fund sales has coincided with increased politicization of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing in the United States, heightened regulatory and policy attention to greenwashing, and increased scrutiny of ESG-related claims in both U.S. and Canadian markets,” the report said.
Passive, active and strategic beta strategies
The data also showed “broad-based” ETF growth across active, passive and strategic beta strategies.
Active ETF assets, it noted, increased to $243.3 billion in 2025 from $33.6 billion in 2018. The number of active ETFs more than tripled during the same period.
Passive ETFs remained the largest segment throughout the period, with $404.9 billion in assets recorded in 2025, up from $103.5 billion in 2018.
Strategic beta ETFs saw their assets rise to $64.9 billion from $19.5 billion, while the number of strategic beta ETFs rose to 232 from 186 during the same period.
At the same time, there’s been “a clear evolution in the sources of ETF net sales over time,” SIMA reported.
“Passive ETFs dominated net sales in the earlier years of the period (2018–2020). However, in three of the last four years, active ETFs have equalled or exceeded passive ETFs in net sales, indicating a meaningful shift in investor demand. In 2025, active ETFs accounted for [50%] of total net sales, highlighting growing investor interest in strategies that combine the ETF structure with active management,” the report said.
“Strategic beta ETFs contributed a relatively small share of net sales throughout the period. While inflows were generally positive, they remained modest compared with both active and passive strategies.”
Number of providers, funds
In 2025, two companies offering mutual funds in Canada exited the industry, bringing the total number of mutual fund providers to 114 by year-end. Still, there were 15 new mutual funds launched last year, bringing the total number to 3,412, the report noted.
On the other hand, four new providers entered Canada’s ETF industry in 2025, bringing the total number of ETF providers to 49 by year-end. There were 246 new ETFs launched last year, with the total number of Canada-listed ETFs sitting at 1,489 by the end of 2025.