June was another strong month for mutual fund sales, with the fund industry trade group estimating monthly net sales of between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.

The Investment Funds Institute of Canada reported the strong sales estimates Tuesday, based on a sample of preliminary data from some of its members. “We are delighted with the early estimates,” said Tom Hockin, IFIC’s president & CEO, in a statement. “Typically, investors wind down during the summer, but last month’s sales promise to be the best June we’ve had since June of 1998.”

For a change, the banks aren’t running away with all of the sales. IFIC’s data shows CI Mutual Funds leading the way with $506 million in monthly net sales.

Bank-owned firms, TD Asset Management and RBC Asset Management, are the next hottest sellers, with net sales of $474 million and $431 million, respectively. And TD led the way in long-term net sales, with $535 million to CI’s $511 million and RBC’s $462 million.

There’s a sharp falloff in net sales of the top three companies to the next group of companies. No other firm is reporting as much as $200 million in total net sales. BMO Funds had $194 million and Dynamic reported $190 million. Brandes Investment Partners, National Bank Mutual Funds and Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. were the only other firms in the IFIC sample to record more than $100 million in net sales.

A couple of firms also recorded heavy net redemptions. Fidelity Investments Canada Ltd. was hard hit, with $614 million in redemptions. AIC Ltd. reported $380 million worth of redemptions.

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the industry at the end of June will be in the range of $524 billion to $529 billion, up about 1.2% from last month’s total of $520.1 billion.