A niche shop known for its leveraged and inverse index funds took the lead last month among midsize fund firms, even as the group's outflows rose.

Michael Lynn Sapir ProShare Advisors, ProFund Advisors CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on May 2022 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds of funds. (Other asset management products, like CITs and SMAs, are also not included.) More specifically, this article focuses on the 73 firms (down from 75 in April 2022 and from 77 in May 2021) with between $10 billion and $100 billion each in long-term fund AUM.

Midsize firms had $2.507 trillion in combined long-term fund AUM as of May 31, 2022, and they accounted for 10.22 percent of overall industry long-term fund AUM. That compares with $2.624 trillion and 10.67 percent on April 30, 2022, and with $2.858 trillion and 10.93 percent on May 31, 2021.

18 midsize firms brought in net long-term inflows in May 2022, down from 21 in April 2022 and 42 in May 2021.

ProShares and ProFunds took the lead last month among midsize funds, thanks to an estimated $1.757 billion in net May 2022 inflows, up month-over-month from $174 million in April 2022 and up year-over-year from $345 million in May 2021. Other big May 2022 inflows winners included: Pacer, $1.669 billion (up M/M from $704 million, up Y/Y from $345 million); WisdomTree, $1.374 billion (down M/M from $1.618 billion, up Y/Y from $499 million); GQG, $939 million (up M/M from $366 million, up Y/y from $266 million); and Rafferty's Direxion, $664 million (down M/M from $2.293 billion, up Y/Y from $24 million.

Pacer took the lead proportionately last month, thanks to estimated net May 2022 inflows equivalent to 11.3 percent of its AUM. Other big inflows winners included: GQG, 7.7 percent; Ark, 3 percent; ProShares, 2.8 percent; and WisdomTree, 2.8 percent.

After the first five months of 2022, ProShares and ProFunds kept the lead, thanks to an estimated $9.605 billion in year-to-date inflows as of May 31. Other big inflows winners included: Direxion, $6.792 billion; and Pacer, $5.365 billion.

On the flip side, last month was another rough one for DoubleLine, which again led the midsize pack with an estimated $2.422 billion in net May 2022 outflows, down M/M from $2.464 billion in April 2022 but up Y/Y from $276 million in May 2021. Other big May 2022 outflows sufferers included: TCW (including MetWest), $1.939 billion (up M/M from $1.646 billion, down Y/Y from $126 million in net inflows); Virtus, $1.812 billion (up M/M from $1.089 billion, up Y/Y from $271 million); Baird (including Strategas), $1.524 billion (up M/M from $961 million, down Y/Y from $283 million in net inflows); and New York Life (including IndexIQ), $1.436 billion (down M/M from $424 million in net inflows, down Y/Y from $93 million in net inflows).

Matthews Asia led the midsize outflows pack proportionately last month, suffering estimated net May 2022 outflows equivalent to 5.3 percent of its AUM. Other big outflows sufferers included: JOHCM, 5.1 percent; WCM, 4.4 percent; Alger, 3.7 percent; and DoubleLine, 3.6 percent.

After the first five months of the year, DoubleLine led the 2022 midsize outflows pack, thanks to an estimated $8.964 billion in net YTD outflows. Other big outflows sufferers included: SEI, $7.391 billion; and TCW, $7.298 billion.

As a group, midsize fund firms suffered an estimated $21.968 billion in net May 2022 outflows, equivalent to 0.88 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 56.18 percent of overall industry outflows. That compares with $17.012 billion, 0.67 percent of AUM, and 19.07 percent of industry outflows in April 2022, and with $2.993 billion in net inflows, 0.1 percent of AUM, and 3.62 percent of industry inflows in May 2021.

Midsize fund firms suffered an estimated $56.514 billion in net outflows in the first five months of 2022. That's equivalent to 2.25 percent of their combined AUM and accounts for 121.28 percent of overall industry outflows.

Across the entire industry, the 787 firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 796 but up Y/Y from 760) suffered an estimated $39.103 billion in net May 2022 outflows, equivalent to 0.16 percent of the industry's $24.532 trillion in long-term fund AUM. (298 firms brought in net May inflows, down from 320 in April.) That's down M/M from $89.224 billion and 0.36 percent of $24.585 trillion of AUM in April 2022 and down Y/Y from $82.763 billion in net inflows and 0.32 percent of $26.156 trillion of AUM in May 2021.

Active funds suffered an estimated $109.837 billion in net May 2022 outflows, up M/M from $86.386 billion and down Y/Y from $11.451 billion in net inflows. Yet passive funds brought in an estimated $70.729 billion in net May 2022 inflows, up M/M from $2.838 billion in net outflows and down Y/Y from $71.312 billion.

After the first five months of 2022, the industry had suffered $46.598 billion in net YTD outflows, equivalent to about 0.19 percent of industry long-term AUM. 390 firms have brought in net inflows YTD. 

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