The SoCal Colossus regained the lead last month among active fund firms, according to the latest data from the folks at a publicly traded investment research company.

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on January 2026 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds-of-funds.* More specifically, this article focuses on the 720 firms (down by 2 month-over-month from December 2025 and by 36 year-over-year from January 2025) that offer actively managed, long-term mutual funds or ETFs.

Allianz's Pimco pulled ahead again last month, thanks to an estimated $7.4 billion in net January 2026 active inflows, up by $1.528 billion M/M from December 2025 and up by $4.33 billion Y/Y from January 2025. Other big January 2026 active inflows winners included:

BlackRock (including iShares), $3.977 billion (up by $884 million M/M, up by $1.319 billion Y/Y);

DFA, $3.323 billion (up by $1.857 billion M/M, up by $1.44 billion Y/Y);

American Century (including Avantis), $2.919 billion (up by $2.522 billion M/M, up by $2.599 billion Y/Y); and

Edward Jones' Bridge Builder, $1.941 billion (down by $453 million M/M, up by $865 million Y/Y).

On the flip side, T. Rowe Price took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $5.598 billion in net January 2026 active outflows, down by $2.245 billion M/M from December 2025 but up by $544 million Y/Y from January 2025. Other big January 2026 active outflows sufferers included:

Sun Life's MFS, $3.329 billion (up by $867 million M/M, up by $1.16 billion Y/Y);

Nomura, $2.162 billion (up by $815 million M/M, up by $1.39 billion Y/Y);

Invesco, $1.558 billion (down by $1.14 billion M/M, up by $176 million Y/Y); and

Jackson, $1.405 billion (down by $219 million M/M, up by $40 million Y/Y).

Overall active funds netted $19.699 billion in net inflows in January 2026, their first net inflows since September and up by $45.809 billion M/M and up by $11.653 billion Y/Y. (That translates into 14.5 percent of total industry inflows last month.) 50.3 percent (362) of the active fund families brought in net active inflows last month, up M/M from 46.3 percent and up Y/Y from 49.5 percent.

*Other asset management products, like collective trusts and separate accounts, are also excluded. 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. 

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE