Though industry inflows and AUM slipped last month, two titans' marketshare of inflows spiked to more than 74 percent (and 89 percent of all titans' inflows), up from 50 percent last month and 47 percent a year ago.

Laurence D. "Larry" Fink BlackRock Chairman, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data for November 2021 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 $18.608 billion in long-term fund AUM as of November 30, 2021, and they accounted for 68.19 percent of overall industry long-term AUM; that's up from $18.86 trillion and 67.85 percent on October 31, 2021. Seven of those jumbo firms brought in net long-term fund inflows in November 2021, the same as in October.

BlackRock (including iShares) kept the lead last month in the jumbo pack, thanks to an estimated $30.69 billion in net November 2021 long-term fund inflows, up month-over-month from $22.539 billion in October 2021 but down year-over-year from $33.038 billion in November 2020. Other big November 2021 inflows winners included: Vanguard, $29.289 billion (up M/M from $19.685 billion, up Y/Y from $19.486 billion); and SSGA, $5.74 billion (down M/M from $11.788 billion, down Y/Y from $22.979 billion).

Yet Vanguard kept the year-to-date jumbo inflows lead as of November 30, 2021, thanks to an estimated $357.364 billion in net YTD inflows. Other big inflows winners included: BlackRock, $209.517 billion; and Fidelity, $114.819 billion.

The same trio also led the jumbo inflows pack for the 12-month period ending November 30, 2021; Vanguard with $382.675 billion; BlackRock with $224.796 billion; and Fidelity with $127.634 billion.

On the flip side, T. Rowe Price kept the jumbo fund firm outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $4.06 billion in net November 2021 outflows, up M/M from $3.169 billion in October 2021 and up Y/Y from $1.701 billion in November 2020. The only other November 2021 outflows sufferer was Franklin Templeton with $811 million (down M/M from $1.078 billion, down Y/Y from $1.148 billion).

The same two firms were also the only jumbo net outflows sufferers YTD after the first 11 months of 2021 and also for the 12-month period ending November 30, 2021. T. Rowe suffered $27.638 billion in net YTD outflows and $29.71 billion over the past 12 months, while Franklin suffered $12.07 billion in YTD outflows and $13.092 billion in the last 12 months.

As a group, the nine largest fund firms brought in an estimated $67.301 billion in net inflows in November 2021, equivalent to about 0.36 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 83.13 percent of overall industry long-term inflows. That compares with $68.585 billion, 0.36 percent of AUM, and 81.78 percent of industry inflows in October 20210.

Jumbo fund firms brought in $821.454 billion in net 2021 long-term fund inflows as of November 30, 2021, equivalent to 4.41 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 73.13 percent of industry inflows. And for the 12-month period ending November 30, 2021, jumbo fund firms brought in $882.575 billion in net inflows, equivalent to 4.74 percent of their AUM and accounting for 72.14 percent of industry inflows.

Across the entire industry, the 781 firms (up from 747 in November 2020) tracked by the M* team brought in a combined $80.955 billion in net long-term inflows in November 2021, equivalent to 0.3 percent of industry long-term AUM of $27.288 trillion. That compares with $83.864 billion in inflows and $27.795 trillion in AUM in October 2021, and with $112.028 billion in inflows and $22.769 trillion in AUM in November 2020.

Active funds suffered an estimated $2.051 billion in November 2021 outflows, down M/M from $5.324 billion in inflows and down Y/Y from $16.857 billion in inflows. Passive funds brought in $83.006 billion in November 2021 inflows, up M/M from $78.71 billion but down Y/y from $95.171 billion.

In the first 11 months of 2021, long-term funds brought in $1.123289 trillion in net inflows, equivalent to 4.12 percent of their combined AUM. And in the 12 months ending November 30, 2021, long-term funds brought in $1.223426 trillion in net inflows, equivalent to 4.48 percent of their 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 November 2021 their clients transferred about $1.1 billion out of T. Rowe mutual funds and into other T. Rowe products like CITs and SMAs. (T. Rowe clients made $22.6 billion of such transfers in the first 11 months of 2021.) And T. Rowe is a big retirement plan provider and DC I-O asset manager, especially in the target-date fund (TDF) space. 

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