An ETF giant took the lead among passive fund firms last month, while a bank's asset management arm led on the active side. Passive inflows climbed 60 percent year-over-year (and nearly 16 percent month-over-month), even as active outflows quadrupled M/M.

Cyrus Taraporevala State Street Global Advisors Outgoing President, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on December 2021 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) took the lead last month on the active side, thanks to an estimated $8.167 billion in net December 2021 active inflows, up M/M from $1.116 billion in November 2021 but down Y/Y from $11.476 billion in December 2020. Other big December 2021 active inflows winners included: Northern Trust (including Flexshares), $2.864 billion (up M/M from $8 billion in net outflows, up Y/Y from $151 million); Fidelity, $2.373 billion (up M/M from $4.048 billion in net outflows, up Y/Y from $1.782 billion); John Hancock, $2.287 billion (up M/M from $747 million, up Y/y from $308 million in net outflows); and BlackRock (including iShares), $1.825 billion (down M/M from $2.809 billion, down Y/Y from $4.168 billion).

SSGA took the lead on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $31.404 billion in net December 2021 passive inflows, up M/M from $5.378 billion in November 2021 and up Y/Y from $64 million in net outflows in December 2020. Other big December 2021 passive inflows winners included: BlackRock, $29.548 billion (up M/M from $27.881 billion, up Y/Y from $11.059 billion); Fidelity, $13.79 billion (up M/M from $5.407 billion, up Y/Y from $11.355 billion); Vanguard, $6.948 billion (down M/M from $31.093 billion, down Y/Y from $20.359 billion); and Charles Schwab, $3.668 billion (up M/M from $3.325 billion, down Y/Y from $4.943 billion).

On the flip side, last month was a rough one for Capital Group's American Funds, which led the active outflows pack thanks to an esimated $3.109 billion in net December 20221 outflows, down M/M from $1.202 billion in net inflows in November 2021 and down Y/Y from $3.834 billion in December 2020. Other big December 2021 active outflows sufferers included: Franklin Templeton, $2.781 billion (up M/M from $856 million, up Y/Y from $1.215 billion); T. Rowe Price, $2.663 billion (down M/M from $3.883 billion, up Y/Y from $1.487 billion); Invesco, $2.513 billion (up M/M from $995 million, up Y/Y from $1.285 billion); and Vanguard, $2.513 billion (up M/M from $1.805 billion, down Y/Y from $4.846 billion in net inflows).

T. Rowe took the outflows lead on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $783 million in December 2021 passive outflows, up M/M from $177 million in November 2021 and up Y/Y from $702 million in December 2020. Other big December 2021 passive outflows sufferers included: VanEck, $675 million (down M/M from $395 million in net inflows, down Y/Y from $1.789 billion in net inflows); USCF, $408 million (down M/M from $119 million in net inflows, up Y/Y from $207 million); , $357 million (up M/M from $94 million, up Y/Y from $75 million); and Principal, $267 million (down M/M from $412 million, down Y/Y from $683 million).

Overall, the 731 active fund firms tracked by the M* team (up M/M from 718 and up Y/Y from 690) suffered an estimated $8.2999 billion in net active outflows in December 2021, up from $2.015 billion in November 2021 and down Y/Y from $36.995 billion in inflows in December 2020. 336 firms gained net active inflows in December 2021, down from 372 in November 2021 but up from 337 in December 2020.

The 158 passive fund firms tracked by the M* team (up M/M from 152 and up Y/Y from 140) brought in an estimated $95.932 billion in net passive inflows in December 2021, up M/M from $83.006 billion in November 2021 and up Y/Y from $59.958 billion in December 2020. 90 firms gained net passive inflows in December 2021, up from 89 in November 2021 and December 2020.

*** 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 team revealed earlier this month, in December 2021 their clients transferred $1.2 billion out of T. Rowe mutual funds and into other products like CITs and SMAs. (T. Rowe clients made $23.8 billion of such transfers of such transfers in all of 2021.) And T. Rowe is a big retirement plan provider and DC I-O asset manager, especially in the target-date fund space. 

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