Industry inflows rebounded fivefold last month, yet AUM slipped again and inflows are still down by two-thirds year-over-year.

Mortimer J. "Tim" Buckley Vanguard Chairman, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data for February 2022 mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds of funds. (Other asset management products, like collective trusts and SMAs, are also not included.***) More specifically, this article focuses on the nine firms with more than $500 billion each in long-term fund and ETF AUM.

Jumbo fund firms had $17.882 trillion in long-term fund AUM as of February 28, 2022, and they accounted for 68.2 percent of overall industry long-term AUM. That compares with $18.223 trillion and 68.23 percent on January 31, 2022.

Five of those jumbo firms brought in net long-term fund inflows in February 2022, up from four in January 2022.

Vanguard regained the lead last month, thanks to an estimated $28.142 billion in net February 2022 inflows, up month-over-month from $9.967 billion in January 2022 but down Y/Y from $37.45 billion in February 2021. Other big February 2022 inflows winners included: BlackRock (including iShares), $13.557 billion (up M/M from $3.902 billion in net outflows, down Y/Y from $21.02 billion); and SSGA, $7.752 billion (up M/M from $13.843 billion in net outflows, down Y/Y from $4.774 billion).

As of February 28, 2022, Vanguard led the jumbo pack year-to-date, thanks to an estimated $38.108 billion in net inflows. Other big YTD inflows winners included: Fidelity, $17.784 billion; and BlackRock, $9.658 billion.

On the flip side, T. Rowe Price took the jumbo fund firm outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $3.367 billion in net February 2022 outflows, down M/M from $4.403 billion in January 2022 and down Y/Y from $1.789 billion in February 2021 inflows. Other big February 2022 outflows sufferers included: Franklin Templeton (including Royce), $2.662 billion (up M/M from $2.322 billion, down Y/Y from $3.903 billion); and Capital Group's American Funds, $1.089 billion (down M/M from $3.726 billion in net inflows, down Y/Y from $3.009 billion in net inflows).

As of February 28, T. Rowe also led the jumbo outflows pack for 2022, thanks to an estimated $7.771 billion in net ouflows. Other big YTD outflows sufferers included: SSGA, $6.091 billion; and Franklin, $5.169 billion.

As a group, the nine largest fund firms brought in an estimated $51.583 billion in net long-term fund inflows in February 2022, equivalent to 0.29 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 107.8 percent of overall industry inflows. That compares with $1.071 billion in net outflows, equivalent to 0.01 percent of AUM, in January 2022.

YTD, jumbo fund firms brought in $50.533 billion by the end of February 2022, equivalent to 0.28 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 90.05 percent of overall industry inflows.

Across the entire industry, the 795 firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 797 but up Y/Y from 753) brought in an estimated $47.85 billion in net February 2022 inflows, equivalent to 0.18 percent of overall long-term fund AUM of $26.219 trillion on February 28, 2022. That's up M/M from $8.936 billion in January 2022 inflows, equivalent to 0.03 percent of $26.709 trillion in AUM, but down Y/Y from $144.457 billion in February 2021 inflows, equivalent to 0.6 percent of $24.208 trillion in AUM.

Passive funds brought in $80.09 billion in net long-term fund inflows in February 2022, up M/M from $22.087 billion but down Y/Y from $91.347 billion. Active funds suffered $32.24 billion in net long-term fund outflows in February 2022, up M/M from $13.138 billion but down Y/Y from $53.109 billion in net inflows.

YTD, long-term funds have brought in $56.119 billion in net inflows industrywide, equivalent to 0.21 percent of long-term fund AUM.

***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 last week, in February 2022 their clients transferred about $1.4 billion out of T. Rowe mutual funds and into other T. Rowe products like CITs and SMAs. And T. Rowe is a big retirement plan provider and DC I-O asset manager, especially in the target-date fund (TDF) space. 

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