Industry inflows last month fell by $96.607 billion, and 88 percent of that drop was due to active funds.

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

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on February 2022 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 $1.914 billion in net February 2022 active inflows, up month-over-month from $1.162 billion in January 2022 but down year-over-year from $5.856 billion in February 2021. Other big February 2022 active inflows winners included: First Trust, $1.466 billion (up M/M from $337 million, up Y/Y from $720 million); Edward Jones' Bridge Builder, $922 million (up M/M from $708 million, down Y/Y from $1.494 billion); BlackRock (including iShares), $863 million (down M/M from $891 million, down Y/Y from $5.062 billion); and Dodge & Cox, $590 million (up M/M from $250 million, up Y/Y from $874 million in net outflows).

Vanguard regained the lead on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $33.803 billion in net February 2022 passive inflows, up M/M from $14.72 billion in January 2022 and up Y/Y from $33.614 billion in February 2021. Other big February 2022 passive inflows winners included: BlackRock, $12.694 billion (up M/M from $4.793 billion in net outflows, down Y/Y from $15.959 billion); Fidelity, $10.03 billion (down M/M from $15.912 billion, down Y/Y from $11.675 billion); SSGA, $8.003 billion (up M/M from $14.836 billion in net outflows, up Y/Y from $4.448 billion); and Charles Schwab, $4.51 billion (down M/M from $4.661 billion, up Y/Y from $3.969 billion).

On the flip side, last month was a rough one for Vanguard's active funds, which led the active outflows pack thanks to an estimated $5.661 billion in net February 2022 outflows, up M/M from $4.753 billion in January 2022 but down Y/Y from $3.835 billion in February 2021 inflows. Other big February 2022 active outflows sufferers included: Fidelity, $3.267 billion (down M/M from $4.895 billion, down Y/Y from $.8.092 billion in net inflows); T. Rowe Price, $3.111 billion (down M/M from $3.165 billion, down Y/Y from $777 in net inflows); Franklin Templeton, $2.644 billion (up M/M from $2.48 billion, down Y/Y from $3.825 billion); and Pimco, $2.049 billion (up M/M from $797 million, down Y/Y from $3.314 billion in net inflows).

Jackson took the outflows lead on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $419 million in net February 2022 passive outflows, up M/M from $486 million in January 2022, up Y/Y from $35 million. Other February 2022 passive outflows sufferers included: Guggenheim (including Rydex), $382 million (up M/M from $205 million, down Y/Y from $38 million in net inflows); T. Rowe Price, $257 million (down M/M from $1.238 billion, down Y/Y from $1.012 billion in net inflows); DWS (including Xtrackers), $232 million (up M/M from $59 million, down Y/Y from $391 million in net inflows); and Voya (including TCM), $116 million (down M/M from $167 million, up Y/Y from $70 million).

Overall, the 735 active fund firms tracked by the M* team (up M/M from 734 and up Y/Y from 697) suffered an estimated $32.24 billion in net active outflows in February 2022, up M/M from $13.138 billion in January 2022 and down Y/Y from $53.109 billion in net February 2021 inflows. 380 firms gained net active inflows in February 2022, down M/M from 413 and down Y/Y from 391.

The 163 passive fund firms tracked by the M* team (up M/M from 163 and up Y/Y from 141) brought in an estimated $80.09 billion in net passive February 2022 inflows, up M/M from $22.087 billion but down Y/Y from $91.347 billion. 86 firms gained net passive inflows in February 2022, up M/M from 85 but down Y/Y from 89.

*** 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 February 2022 their clients transferred about $1.4 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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