Inflows into long-term, actively managed mutual funds and ETFs fell by about 74 percent last month, and they're even down about 37 percent year-over-year. Yet long-term fund firms still brought in more than $1 trillion in estimated net inflows over the past year.

Mortimer J. "Tim" Buckley Vanguard President, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data for May 2021 mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money market funds and funds of funds. (Other asset management products, like collective trusts and SMAs, are also not included.***) More specifically, this article focuses on the 33 firms (up from 27 in May 2020) with more than $100 billion each in long-term fund AUM.

Large fund firms had $22.659 trillion in long-term fund AUM as of May 31, 2021, and they accounted for 86.63 percent of long-term fund AUM, up from 86.55 percent on April 30, 2021 and 83.16 percent on May 31, 2020. 21 large fund firms brought in net long-term fund inflows in May 2021, down from 27 in April 2021 but up from 18 in May 2021.

Vanguard kept the lead last month, bringing in an estimated $33.175 billion in net May 2021 long-term fund inflows, down month-over-month from $44.494 billion in April 2021 but up year-over-year from $7.526 billion in May 2020. Other big May 2021 long-term inflows winners included: BlackRock (including iShares), $15.17 billion (down MOM from $19.434 billion, up YOY from $5.67 billion); Fidelity, $7.14 billion (up MOM from $5.847 billion, up YOY from $1.073 billion); Invesco, $6.563 billion (up MOM from $1.791 billion, up YOY from $578 million); and J.P. Morgan (including Six Circles), $5.24 billion (down MOM from $5.48 billion, down YOY from $5.978 billion).

Proportionately among the biggest fund firms, First Trust kept the lead last month, thanks to estimated May 2021 long-term inflows equivalent to 1.6 percent of its AUM. Other big long-term inflows winners included: Charles Schwab, 1.2 percent; J.P. Morgan, 1 percent; Invesco, 1 percent; and Hartford, 0.7 percent.

Vanguard also led the large fund firm long-term inflows pack in the first five months of 2021, thanks to an estimated $198.713 billion in net YTD inflows as of May 31, 2021. Other big YTD inflows winners included: BlackRock, $90.866 billion; and Fidelity, $61.239 billion.

The same three firms also led the pack in the 12 months ending on May 31, 2021, with Vanguard bringing in $306.014 billion in net inflows, BlackRock bringing in $205.727 billion, and Fidelity bringing in $98.313 billion.

On the flip side, last month was another rough one for T. Rowe Price's long-term mutual funds, which led the large fund firm outflows pack thanks to an estimated 42.454 billion in net May 2021 outflows, up MOM from $1.396 billion and up YOY from $2.017 billion. Other big May 2021 outflows sufferers included: John Hancock, $1.333 billion (down MOM from $1.05 billion in net inflows, up YOY from $824 million); Janus Henderson, $929 million (up MOM from $24 million, up YOY from $404 million); DFA, $649 million (up MOM from $844 million, down YOY from $3.798 billion); and SEI, $608 million (down MOM from $767 million, up YOY from $143 million).

Proportionately among the biggest fund firms, Hancock suffered the most last month, thanks to estimated net May 2021 outflows equivalent to 0.9 percent of its AUM. Other big outflows sufferers included: SEI, 0.55 percent; Janus, 0.5 percent; Macquarie (including Delaware and Ivy), 0.4 percent; and Principal, 0.4 percent.

T. Rowe also led the outflows pack in the first five months of 2021, thanks to an estimated $8.714 billion net YTD outflows as of May 30, 2021. Other big YTD outflows sufferers included: DFA, $8.488 billion; and Franklin Templeton, $5.286 billion.
,br /> DFA led the outflows pack for the 12 months ending May 31, 2021, thanks to an estimated $30.982 billion in net outflows. Other big outflows sufferers included: T. Rowe, $21.395 billion; and Franklin, $15.173 billion.

As a group, the 33 largest fund firms brought in an estimated $75.802 billion in net inflows in May 2021, equivalent to about 0.33 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 91.59 percent of overall industry inflows. That's down from $113.01 billion, 0.51 percent of AUM, and 88.63 percent of industry inflows last month. And that's up from $31.779 billion, 0.2 percent of AUM, and 96.3 percent of industry inflows in May 2020.

In the first five months of 2021, the largest fund firms brought in an estimated $518.706 billion in net long-term inflows, equivalent to about 2.29 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 84.22 percent of overall industry inflows. And in the 12 months ended May 30, 2021, large fund firms brought in an estimated $884.156 billion in net long-term fund inflows, equivalent to about 3.9 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 86.41 percent of overall industry inflows.

Across the entire industry, the 760 fund firms (down from 763 in May 2020) tracked by the M* team brought in a combined $82.763 billion in estimated net long-term fund inflows in May 2021, equivalent to about 0.32 percent of long-term fund AUM. That's down from $125.673 billion in April 2021 but up from $33.001 billion in May 2020.

Active funds brought in an estimated $11.451 billion in net May 2021 inflows, down MOM from $31.465 billion in April 2021 and down YOY from $17.995 billion in May 2020.

In the first five months of 2021, long-term funds brought in an estimated $615.895 billion in net inflows, equivalent to 2.35 percent of their combined AUM. For the 12 months ended May 31, 2021, long-term funds brought in an estimated $1.023266 trillion in net inflows, equivalent to about 3.91 percent of their combined AUM.

***This caveat is particularly important for the largest fund firms, many of which are big players in the 401(k) business, where collective investment trusts (CITs) are a commonly used alternative to traditional mutual funds. For example, as the T. Rowe team revealed on June 10, in May 2021 their clients transferred about $0.5 billion out of T. Rowe mutual funds and into other T. Rowe products like CITs and SMAs. And T. Rowe is a big retirement plan provider and DC I-O asset manager, especially in the target-date fund (TDF) space. 

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