Active inflows fell by the 73 percent over the last two months, while passive inflows rose slightly.

Mary Callahan Erdoes J.P. Morgan CEO of Asset and Wealth Management

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on October 2021 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds of funds. The data also excludes other asset management products, like SMAs and CITs.***

J.P. Morgan (including Six Circles) took the lead last month on the active side, thanks to an estimated $6.57 billion in net October 2021 inflows, up month-over-month from $2.844 billion in September 2021 and up year-over-year from $4.973 billion in October 2020. Other big October 2021 active inflows winners included: BlackRock (including iShares), $2.557 billion (up M/M from $1.516 billion, up Y/Y from $404 million in net outflows); Goldman Sachs, $2.123 billion (up M/M from $1.391 billion, up Y/Y from $1.109 billion); TIAA's Nuveen, $1.922 billion (up M/M from $1.03 billion, up Y/Y from $1.448 billion in net outflows); and ProShares and ProFunds, $1.256 billion (up M/M from $5 million, up Y/Y from $4 million).

Vanguard kept the lead yet again on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $20.011 billion in net October 2021 passive inflows, up M/M from $18.112 billion in September 2021 and up Y/Y from $10.101 billion in October 2020. Other big October 2021 passive inflows winners included: BlackRock, $20.003 billion (up M/M from $9.17 billion, up Y/Y from $10.467 billion); SSGA, $11.55 billion (up M/M from $2.662 billion in net outflows, up Y/Y from $2.991 billion in net outflows); and Fidelity, $7.536 billion (down M/M from $10.232 billion, up Y/Y from $6.866 billion).

On the flip side, last month was a rough one for Voya's active mutual funds, which led the active outflows pack thanks to an estimated $3.429 billion in net October 2021 outflows, up M/M from $271 million in September 2021 and up Y/Y from $206 million in October 2020. Other big October 2021 active outflows sufferers included: TCW (including MetWest), $3.083 billion (up M/M from $2.555 billion, down Y/Y from $218 million in net inflows); T. Rowe Price, $2.996 billion (up M/M from $2.649 billion, down Y/Y from $3.654 billion); Invesco, $2.118 billion (up M/M from $1.706 billion, down Y/Y from $2.286 billion); and Fidelity, $1.902 billion (up M/M from $600 million, down Y/Y from $3.881 billion).

Nuveen led the outflows pack on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $1.234 billion in net October 2021 passive outflows, up M/M from $3 million in September 2021 but down Y/Y from $2.329 billion in October 2020 inflows. Other big October 2021 passive outflows sufferers included: Rafferty's Direxion, $960 million (down M/M from $961 million, up Y/Y from $626 million); ProShares, $557 million (down M/M from $3.229 billion in net inflows, down Y/Y from $1.022 billion in net inflows); J.P. Morgan, $440 million (down M/M from $227 million in net inflows, down Y/Y from $20 million in net inflows); and Jackson, $249 million (down M/M from $459 million, down Y/Y from $550 million).

Overall, the 721 active fund firms tracked by the M* team (up from M/M from 718 and up Y/Y from 699) brought in an estimated $5.324 billion in net active inflows in October 2021, accounting for six percent of overall industry long-term inflows. That compares with $9.916 billion and 17 percent in September 2021, and with $6.943 billion in net outflows in October 2020. 371 firms gained net active inflows in October 2021, down M/M from 375 but up Y/Y from 281.

The 153 passive fund firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 157 but up Y/Y from 142) brought in an estimated $78.71 billion in net passive inflows in October 2021, accounting for 94 percent of overall industry long-term inflows. That compares with $47.828 billion and 83 percent in September 2021, and with $22.583 billion in October 2020. 86 firms gained net passive inflows in October 2021, the same as in September 2021 but up Y/Y from 73.

*** 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 earlier this month, in October 2021 their clients transferred about $3.1 billion out of T. Rowe mutual funds and into other T. Rowe products like CITs and SMAs. (T. Rowe clients made $21.5 billion of such transfers in the first nine 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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