The investment included 943 million pounds allocated to UK equity funds, the highest level since March 1999.

"Although it remains to be seen what impact August's volatility has on fund sales, retail investors had a strong appetite for equities in July, particularly UK equity funds which saw their highest net sales in over 15 years," Daniel Godfrey, the association's chief executive, said.

Total net retail fund sales in Britain was 3 billion pounds in July.

(Reporting by Nishant Kumar; editing by Carolyn Cohn)