The world's largest mutual fund firm (by AUM) led the way with flows in two ways last month: with passive inflows and active outflows.

Mortimer J. "Tim" Buckley Vanguard Chairman, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on December 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) led the pack for a second month in a row last month, thanks to an estimated $4.633 billion in net December 2022 active inflows, up month-over-month from $2 billion in November 2022) but down year-over-year from $8.176 billion in December 2021. Other big December 2022 active inflows winners included: American Century (including Avantis), $1.266 billion (down M/M from $1.276 billion, up Y/Y from $456 million); First Trust, $552 million (down M/M from $600 million, up Y/Y from $341 million); Innovator, $448 million (down M/M from $908 million, up Y/Y from $172 million); and Evoke, $249 million (up M/M from $369 million in net outflows).

Vanguard took the lead on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $15.672 billion in net December 2022 passive inflows, up M/M from $13.906 billion in November 2022 and up Y/Y from $6.948 billion in December 2021. Other big December 2022 passive inflows winners included: BlackRock, $13.833 billion (down M/M from $21.016 billion, down Y/Y from $29.548 billion); Fidelity, $4.425 billion (up M/M from $4.62 billion in net outflows, down Y/Y from $13.79 billion in net inflows); Schwab, $3.886 billion (up M/M from $2.988 billion, up Y/Y from $3.668 billion); and WisdomTree, $974 million (down M/M from $1.111 billion, up Y/Y from $286 million).

On the flip side, last month was another rough one for Vanguard's active funds, which led the active outflows pack for a fourth month in a row, thanks to an estimated $13.273 billion in net December 2022 active outflows, up M/M from $9.788 billion in November 2022 and up Y/Y from $2.429 billion in December 2021. Other big December 2022 active outflows sufferers included: Capital Group (home of the American Funds), $10.65 billion (up M/M from $7.839 billion, up Y/Y from $3.109 billion); T. Rowe Price, $7.238 billion (up M/M from $4.057 billion, up Y/YK from $2.663 billion); Allianz's Pimco, $7.211 billion (up M/M from $2.682 billion, up Y/Y from $786 million); and Fidelity, $6.73 billion (up M/M from $6.155 billion, down Y/Y from $2.373 billion in net inflows).

Invesco took the outflows lead last month on the passive side, thanks to an estimated $1.795 billion in net December 2022 passive outflows, down M/M from $6.584 billion in net November 2022 inflows and down Y/Y from $5.688 billion in net December 2022 inflows. Other December 2022 passive outflows sufferers included: J.P. Morgan, $1.021 billion (up M/M from $485 million, down Y/Y from $807 million in net inflows); VanEck, $510 million (down M/M from $575 million in net inflows, down Y/Y from $675 million in net outflows); DWS (including Xtrackers), $506 million (down M/M from $451 million, down Y/Y from $130 million in net inflows); and SSGA, $430 million (down M/M from $1.546 billion, down Y/Y from $31.404 billion in net inflows.

Overall, the 732 active fund firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 740 but up Y/Y from 731) suffered an estimated $121.317 billion in net active outflows in December 2022, up M/M from $95.225 billion in November 2022 and up Y/Y from $8.299 billion in December 2021. 231 active firms (31.6 percent) brought in net inflows last month, down M/M from 255 (34.5 percent) and down Y/Y from 336 (46 percent).

The 157 passive fund firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 159, down Y/Y from 158) brought in an esteimated $35.056 billion in net December 2022 inflows, down M/M from $42.638 billion in November 2022 and down Y/Y from $95.932 billion in December 2021. 73 firms (46.5%) gained net passive inflows last month, up M/M from 63 (40.1 percent) but down Y/Y from 90 (57 percent).

***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 Price team revealed on January 12, in 2022 their clients transferred about $12.4 billion (including about $700 million in December alone) 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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