They were also popular with wealth managers, three of the top five highest selling funds were bonds.
The top three funds for execution only were M&G Strategic Corporate Bond, SL Inv Global Index Linked Bond and the Investec Strategic Bond.
The three bonds favoured by wealth managers were SL Inv Global Index Linked Bond, Schroder IM ISF Global Inflation Linked Bond and Old Mutual Global Strategic Bond.
Execution-only clients tended to favour corporate bonds while wealth managers moved more towards European collective investment vehicles.
Christopher James, director of institutional services at Cofunds, said: “Bond sectors were universally popular in Q4 and this trend is particularly prevalent with execution only clients.
“Newton Global Higher Income again featured in the top 20 funds with all three client types. While this was the only fund to achieve this is Q3, last quarter M&G Optimal Income also appeared in this top percentage across execution only clients, wealth managers and product providers.”