The Investment Funds Institute of Canada report that net redemptions of mutual funds for September were $1.1 billion.

“As a result of weakness in equity markets, 69.2% of net redemptions for September were in equity mutual funds,” said Tom Hockin, president and CEO of the institute, in a news release. “Despite net redemptions for the past several months, year-to-date sales of long-term funds are down only 1.7% from the prior year.”

Indeed, the combination of low interest rates and weak equity markets meant redemptions were coming from both short-term and long-term funds. Money market funds saw just under $400 million in net redemptions for the month. Long-term funds recorded another $718 million in net redemptions.

The strongest net redemptions came in the foreign equity category, almost $403 million worth. Canadian equity funds weren’t far behind, with $343 million in monthly net redemptions. However, the dividend and income funds managed $123.4 million in net sales.

While sales were weak in the month, the bigger problem is assets. Total assets under management decreased in September to $381.1 billion, down 4.8% from $400.3 billion in August. Assets are down 1.1% from last September’s figure of $385.4 billion.

Some of the biggest asset drops came from firms such as AGF and Franklin Templeton, whose total assets slid 8.9% and 9.9% respectively. No firm saw their assets rise in the month.

IFIC also reported the total number of member unitholder accounts were 52.7 million, a 1.3% increase from this time last year.