A certain low-cost leviathan's market share (as a percentage of industry inflows) more than doubled to 50.54 percent last month, though flows for the largest fund firms and industry inflows overall slipped.

Mortimer J. "Tim" Buckley Vanguard President, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data for July 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 nine firms with more than $500 billion each in long-term fund AUM.

Jumbo fund firms had $18.199 trillion in long-term fund AUM as of July 31, 2021, and they accounted for 67.66 percent of industry long-term AUM; that compares with $17.984 trillion and 67.78 percent of AUM in June. Five of those jumbo firms brought in net long-term fund inflows in July 2021, down from eight in June.

Vanguard kept the lead last month in the jumbo pack, thanks to an estimated $37.429 billion in net July 2021 long-term fund inflows, up month-over-month from June 2021. Other big July 2021 inflows winners included: BlackRock, $9.848 billion (down M/M from $20.425 billion, down year-over-year from $21.668 billion in July 2020); and Fidelity, $7.56 billion (down M/M from $15.963 billion, up Y/Y from $428 million in net outflows).

The same three firms also led long-term inflows in the first seven months of 2021 and the 12-months ending July 31, 2021. Vanguard brought in an estimated $264.533 billion in the first half of 2021 and $341.075 billion in the 12 months ending July 31, 2021. BlackRock brought in $123.042 billion and $194.587 billion, respectively. And Fidelity brought in $84.611 billion and $111.38 billion, respectively.

On the flip side, Franklin Templeton led the jumbo fund firm outflows pack last month thanks to an estimated $3.471 billion in net outflows, down M/M from $512 million in net inflows and up Y/Y from $2.112 billion). Other big July outflows sufferers included Invesco, $3.027 billion (down M/M from $4.592 billion in net inflows, up Y/Y from $218 million; and T. Rowe Price, $2.526 billion (down M/M from $4.336 billion, up Y/Y from $907 million).

YTD, T. Rowe led the jumbo outflows pack thanks to an estimated $15.575 billion in net outflows in the first seven months of 2021. The only other outflows sufferer was Franklin, with $7.635 billion.

T. Rowe also led in the 12 months ending on July 31, 2021, thanks to an estimated $27.696 billion in net outflows. Franklin suffered $14.176 billion in net outflows.

As a group, the nine largest fund firms brought in an estimated $48.852 billion in net inflows in July 2021, equivalent to about 0.27 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 67.78 percent of overall industry long-term inflows.

In the first seven months of 2021, jumbo fund firms brought in an estimated $571.898 billion in net inflows, equivalent to 3.14 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 71.38 percent of industry inflows. And in the 12 months ending on July 31, jumbo firms brought in an estimated $775.27 billion in net inflows, equivalent to 4.26 percent of AUM and accounting for 70.79 percent of industry inflows.

Across the entire industry, the 774 fund firms (up from 768 in June 2021 and 757 in July 2020) tracked by the M* team brought in a combined $77.077 billion in estimated net long-term inflows in July 2021, equivalent to 0.27 percent of industry AUM of $26.898 trillion. That compares with $105.503 billion and $26.534 trillion in June 2021 and $41.339 billion and $20.737 trillion in AUM.

Active funds brought in an estimated $14.693 billion in net July 2021 inflows, down M/M from $24.578 billion but up Y/Y from $12.052 billion. Passive funds brought in an estimated $57.431 billion in July 2021 inflows, down M/M from $80.917 billion but up Y/Y from $29.381 billion.

In the first seven months of 2021, long-term funds brought in an estimated $801.234 billion in net inflows, equivalent to 2.98 percent of long-term fund AUM. And in the 12 months ending July 31, 2021, long-term funds brought in $1.095194 trillion in net inflows, equivalent to 4.07 percent of their AUM.

*** This caveat is particularly important for jumbo 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 last week, in July 2021 their clients transferred about $300 million out of T. Rowe mutual funds and into other T. Rowe products like CITs and SMAs. (T. Rowe clients made $15.1 billion of such transfers in the first seven months of 2021). 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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