The Gotham Goliath kept the passive flows lead last month, according to the latest data from the folks at a publicly traded investment research company.

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on September 2025 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds of funds. (The data also excludes other asset management products, like CITs and separate accounts.*) More specifically, this article focuses on the 153 firms (up by three month-over-month from August 2025 and up by four year-over-year from September 2024) that offer passively managed, long-term mutual funds or ETFs.

BlackRock (including iShares) led the passive inflows pack for a second month in a row, thanks to an estimated $40.439 billion in net September 2025 passive inflows, up by $10.777 billion M/M from August 2025 and up by $30.736 billion Y/Y from September 2024. Other big September 2025 passive inflows winners included:

Vanguard, $16.328 billion (down by $4.978 billion M/M, down by $4.682 billion Y/Y);

Fidelity, $9.722 billion (up by $1.708 billion M/M, up by $8.38 billion Y/Y);

Invesco, $7.059 billion (up by $1.791 billion M/M, up by $4.41 billion Y/Y); and

State Street's SSIM (fka SSGA), $6.003 billion (up by $1.779 billion M/M, down by $12.157 billion Y/Y).

On the flip side, Voya took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $5.034 billion in net September 2025 passive outflows, up by $4.813 billion M/M from August 2025 and up by $1.489 billion Y/Y from September 2024. Other big September 2025 passive outflows sufferers included:

TIAA's Nuveen, $3.826 billion (a $3.898-billion net flows drop M/M, $4.101-billion net flows drop Y/Y);

Raffery's Direxion, $3.826 billion (up by $1.331 billion M/M, a $4.665-billion net flows drop Y/Y);

ProShares and ProFunds, $1.005 billion (down by $1.518 billion M/M, a $2.668-billion net flows drop Y/Y); and

Jackson, $945 million (up by $337 million M/M, up by $326 million Y/Y).

Overall, passive funds brought in a combined $78.141 billion in net September 2025 inflows (up by $7.579 billion M/M, up by $18.136 billion Y/Y). 57.5 percent (88) of the passive fund families brought in net passie inflows last month, up M/M from 54 percent and up Y/Y from 51 percent.

*This caveat is particularly important for large fund firms, many of which are big players in the 401(k) business, where collective investment trusts (CITs) and separately managed accounts (SMAs) are commonly used alternatives to traditional mutual funds. 

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