Investors have placed a net £18.5bn (€20bn) into UK open-ended funds so far this year, putting the country's funds industry on course for its most successful year since records began, according to statistics published yesterday.

The Investment Management Association said investors put a net £2.7bn into UK funds last month, bringing the total to £18.5bn over the first eight months of this year. The figure is already more than investors put into UK funds in almost every full year since 1992, the earliest date for IMA records, and is on course to top the £20.8bn figure recorded in 2006 - the only year to record larger net inflows.