The Boston Behemoth kicked off the new year in the lead among the largest fund firms by fund count, according to the latest data from the folks at a publicly traded investment research firm.

Abigail Pierrepont "Abby" Johnson FMR (dba Fidelity Investments) Chair, President, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data for January 2024 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 eight firms with at least 1,000 long-term mutual funds and ETFs each.

Fidelity took the lead last month, thanks to an estimated $13.09 billion in net January 2024 inflows, up month-over-month from $11.344 billion in December 2023 and up year-over-year from $497 million in January 2023. Other big January 2024 inflows winners included: Invesco, $9.502 billion (up M/M from $5.595 billion, up Y/Y from $2.641 billion in net outflows); and BlackRock (including iShares), $8.548 billion) (down M/M from $23.332 billion, up Y/Y from $4.868 billion).

On the flip side, Franklin Templeton (now including Putnam) led the outflows pack for a fourth consecutive month, thanks to an estimated $2.058 billion in January 2024 outflows, down M/M from $4.049 billion in December 2023 but up Y/Y from $755 million in January 2023. Other big January 2024 outflows sufferers included: Ameriprise's Columbia Threadneedle, $312 million (up M/M from $141 million, down Y/Y from $748 million); and TIAA's Nuveen, $202 million (down M/M from $1.499 billion, down Y/Y from $1.209 billion in net inflows).

As a group, the eight largest fund firms brought in $35.865 billion in January 2024 inflows, ending the month with $8.102 trillion in AUM across 12,305 funds, with four of those firms netting inflows. (That compares with $35.058 billion in net inflows, $7.952 trillion in AUM, and 11,704 funds in December 2023.) Mega firms on January 31, 2024 accounted for 30.4 percent of industry long-term fund AUM, 29 percent of funds, and 99.8 percent of industry inflows.

Across the industry, the 773 firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 782, down Y/Y from 783) brought in an estimated $35.941 billion in net January 2024 inflows, ending the month with $26.623 trillion in AUM across 42,446 funds. That compares with $57.098 billion in net inflows, $26.527 trillion in AUM, and 42,423 funds in December 2023, and with $42.682 billion in net inflows, $24.165 trillion in AUM, and 42,338 funds in January 2023.

***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