Though industry inflows slipped last month, they're still up about 15 percent year-over-year. Yet the titans' inflows are down about six percent year-over-year.

Mortimer J. "Tim" Buckley Vanguard President, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data for January 2021 mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money market funds and funds of funds. (Other asset management product structures, like collective trusts and SMAs, are also not included.) More specifically, this article focuses on the 32 firms (down from 33 in December but up from 29 in January 2020) with more than $100 billion each in long-term fund AUM. 21 of those firms had net January 2021 inflows (down from 24 in December).

Vanguard kept the lead last month, bringing in an estimated $37.557 billion in net January 2021 inflows, up from $25.205 billion in December 2020 but down from $42.801 billion in January 2020. Other big January 2021 inflows winners included: BlackRock, $9.306 billion (down from $15.227 billion last month, down year-over-year from $17.467 billion); J.P. Morgan (including Six Circles), $8.758 billion (down from $12.439 billion last month, up YOY from $3.509 billion); Fidelity, $8.055 billion (down from $13.137 billion last month, up YOY from $6.031 billion); and Pimco, $3.824 billion (up from $2.443 billion last month, up YOY from $2.416 billion).

Proportionately among the biggest fund firms, First Trust led the pack last month, thanks to estimated January 2021 inflows equivalent to 2.4 percent of its AUM. Other big inflows winners included: J.P. Morgan, 1.8 percent; PGIM, 1.4 percent; Goldman Sachs, 1.2 percent; and Schwab, 1.2 percent.

On the flip side, last month was a rough one for SSGA, which led the large fund firm outflows pack thanks to an estimated $4.957 billion in net January 2021 outflows, down from $196 million in net December 2020 inflows but up from $131 million in net January 2020 outflows. Other big January 2021 outflows sufferers included: T. Rowe Price, $4.367 billion*** (up from $2.189 billion last month, up YOY from $2.363 billion); DFA, $2.312 billion (down from $4.549 billion last month, down YOY from $702 million in net inflows); Principal, $1.231 billion (down from $335 million in net inflows last month, up YOY from $427 million net outflows); and Jackson, $1.183 billion (up from $11 million last month, up YOY from $752 million).

Proportionately among the biggest fund firms, Principal suffered the most January 2021 net outflows, equivalent to 0.8 percent of its AUM. Other big outflows sufferers included: Jackson, 0.6 percent; SSGA, 0.6 percent; T. Rowe, 0.6 percent; and DFA, 0.5 percent.

As a group, the 32 largest fund firms brought in an estimated $72.755 billion in net inflows in January 2021, equivalent to 0.4 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 76.22 percent of overall industry inflows. That's down from $78.995 billion, up from 0.39 percent of AUM, and down from 81.48 percent of industry inflows in December 2020. And that's down from $77.276 billion, 0.44 percent of AUM, and 92.8 percent of industry inflows in January 2020.

Across the entire industry, the 753 firms (up from 751 in December) brought in a combined $95.454 billion in estimated net January 2021 inflows, equivalent to 0.4 percent of their combined AUM. That's down from $96.953 billion and 0.41 percent of AUM in December 2020, but it's up from $83.274 billion and level with 0.4 percent of AUM in January 2020.

Active funds brought in an estimated $40.863 billion in net January 2021 inflows, up from $36.995 billion in December 2020 and up from $17.315 billion in January 2020. Passive funds brought in an estimated $54.591 billion in net January 2021 inflows, down from $59.958 billion in December 2020 and down from $65.959 billion in January 2020.

*** - Note that all the above numbers are for long-term mutual funds and ETFs only. Similar strategies in different structures, such as SMAs and collective trusts, are not included: thus, client transfers between product structures while sticking with the same strategies look here either like inflows or outflows. T. Rowe Price is a case-in-point: while M* estimates that the firm suffered an estimated $4.367 billion in net long-term fund outflows last month, the T. Rowe team reported that last month clients transferred $2.8 billion from T. Rowe mutual funds to other T. Rowe product structures, meaning that T. Rowe's mutual fund outflows belied the firm's overall net flows. This shift makes sense for T. Rowe in particular, given that the firm is a big retirement plan provider: collective trusts, in particular, are almost exclusively a retirement plan product. Odds are that such product structure shifts are also affecting the net long-term mutual fund flows for some of the other big retirement plan providers, too. 

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