A publicly traded TAMP's new funds took the flows lead last month among the smallest fund firms.

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on May 2023 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 521 firms (down month-over-month and year-over-year from 515 in April 2023 and May 2022) with less than $1 billion each in long-term fund AUM.

Micro fund firms had $100 billion in total long-term AUM across 2,807 funds and accounted for 0.42 percent of overall industry long-term fund AUM as of May 31, 2023. That compares with $99 billion, 2,760 funds, and 0.41 percent of industry AUM on April 30, 2023, and with $95 billion and 0.39 percent of industry AUM on May 31, 2022.

177 of those micro fund firms brought in net inflows in May 2023. That's down M/M from 193 in April 2023 and down Y/Y from 229 in May 2022.

Envestnet's ActivePassive Funds took the micro firm inflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $339 million in net May 2023 inflows. Other big May 2023 inflows winners included: Standpoint Asset Management, $58 million (up M/M from $11 million, down Y/Y from $69 million); FS Investments, $47 million (up M/M from $30 million); Kempner, $43 million (up M/M from negligible inflows, up Y/Y from negligible outflows); and Ambrus, $40 million (up M/M from $33 million).

Last month there were at least three apparent newcomers, including ActivePassive, Tema Global Limited, and Veridien Corp.

ActivePassive also leads the pack so far in 2023, thanks to an estimated $339 million in net inflows year-to-date as of May 31, 2023. Other big YTD inflows winners include: Ambrus, $231 million; and Strive, $201 million.

On the flip side, Jackson Square took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $113 million in net May 2023 outflows, up M/M from $15 million in April 2023 but down Y/Y from $173 million in May 2022. Other big May 2023 outflows sufferers included: PineBridge, $98 million (up M/M from $23 million, up Y/Y from negligible outflows); Acadian, $55 million (up M/M from $6 million, up Y/Y from $7 million); Palmer Square, $45 million (up M/M from $41 million, down Y/Y from $20 million inflows; and Teucrium, $43 million, (up M/M from $6 million, down Y/Y from $164 million in net inflows.

AlphaCentric leads the 2023 outflows pack so far, thanks to an estimated $182 million in net YTD inflows as of May 31. Other big YTD outflows sufferers included: Jackson Square, $169 million in net outflows; and Frontier, $416 million.

As a group, micro fund firms suffered an estimated $126 million in net May 2023 outflows, equivalent to 0.13 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 0.55 percent of overall industry long-term outflows. That compares with $8 million and 0.1 percent of their AUM, and with $662 million in net inflows and 0.7 percent of AUM in May 2022.

So far in 2023, micro fund firms have brought in an estimated $229 million in net YTD inflows. That translates into 0.23 percent of their combined AUM.

Across the industry, the 780 firms tracked by the M* team (up M/M from 776, down Y/Y from 787) suffered $22.969 billion in net outflows in May 2023, equivalent to 0.1 percent of their combined $23.9 trillion in AUM across their 41,597 funds. That compares with $6.565 billion in net inflows, 0.03 percent of AUM, and 42,060 funds in April 2023, and with $39.103 billion in net outflows and 0.16 percent of AUM in May 2022.

Active funds suffered an estimated $44.016 billion in net outflows in May 2023, up M/M from $30.68 billion but down Y/Y from $109.837 billion. On the flip side, passive funds brought in $21.046 billion in net May 2023 inflows, down M/M from $37.244 billion in April 2023 and down Y/Y from $$70.729 billion in net inflows in May 2022.

So far in 2023, the industry has suffered $193 million in net outflows as of May 31. That's equivalent to 0.0008 percent of overall industry AUM.

Editor's Note: A prior version of this story gave the wrong total May 2023 outflows for micro fund firms. They suffered $126 million in total outflows that month. 

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