An insurer's fund business took the lead among active fund firms last month, while a familiar leviathan led on the passive side. Passive inflows rose overall, while active overall fell into outflows territory for the first time in 13 months.

Michael Scott Spangler Nationwide Financial / Nationwide Funds Senior Vice President, Head of the Investment Management Group / President

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on November 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.***

Nationwide took the lead last month on the active side, thanks to an estimated $3.494 billion in net November 2021 active inflows, up month-over-month from $13 million in October 2021 and up from $100 million in net active outflows in November 2020. Other big November 2021 active inflows winners included: BlackRock (including iShares), $2.809 billion (up M/M from $2.557 billion, up Y/Y from $2.34 billion); TIAA's Nuveen, $2.635 billion (up M/M from $1.922 billion, up Y/Y from $565 million in net outflows); MFS, $2.103 billion (up M/M from $200 million, up Y/Y from $1.967 billion); and Capital Group's American Funds, $1.202 billion (up M/M from $1.095 billion, up Y/Y from $1.288 billion in net outflows).

Vanguard kept the lead yet again on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $31.093 billion in net November 2021 passive inflows, up M/M from $20.011 billion in October 2021 and up Y/y from $15.355 billion in November 2020. Other big November 2021 passive inflows winners included: BlackRock, $27.881 billion (up M/M from $20.003 billion, down Y/Y from $30.698 billion); Fidelity, $5.407 billion (down M/M from $7.536 billion, down Y/Y from $11.043 billion); SSGA, $5.378 billion (down M/M from $11.55 billion, down Y/Y from $22.819 billion); and Invesco, $4.124 billion (down M/M from $8.081 billion, down Y/Y from $5.913 billion).

On the flip side, last month was a rough one for Fidelity's active mutual funds, which led the active outflows pack thanks to an estimated $4.048 billion in net November 2021 outflows, up M/M from $1.902 billion in October 2021 but down Y/Y from $1.317 billion in November 2020 inflows. Other big November 2021 active outflows sufferers included: T. Rowe Price, $3.883 billion (up M/M from $2.996 billion, up Y/Y from $1.476 billion); Vanguard, $1.805 billion (up M/M from $327 million, down Y/Y from $4.13 billion in net inflows); Macquarie's Delaware, $1.476 billion (down M/M from $1.536 billion, up Y/Y from $95 million); and Ark, $1.419 billion (up M/M from $125 million, down Y/Y from $2.829 billion in net inflows).

Nuveen again led the outflows pack on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $1.215 billion in net November 2021 passive outflows, down M/M from $1.234 billion in October 2021 and down Y/Y from $1.907 billion in November 2020 passive inflows. Other big November 2021 passive outflows sufferers included: Principal, $412 million (up M/M from $120 million, down Y/Y from $506 million); J.P. Morgan, $353 million (down M/M from $440 million, down Y/Y from $63 million in net inflows); DWS (including Xtrackers), $228 million (down M/M from $200 million in net inflows, down Y/Y from $148 million in net inflows); and Voya, $190 million (down M/M from $2.77 billion in net inflows, up Y/Y from $88 million).

Overall, the 718 active fund firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 721)suffered an estimated $2.051 billion in net active outflows in November 2021. That compares with $5.324 billion in net inflows in October 2021 and $16.857 billion in net inflows in November 2021. 372 firms gained net active inflows in November 2021, up M/M from 371 and up Y/Y from 327.

The 152 passive fund firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 153 but up Y/Y from 138) brought in an estimated $83.006 billion in net passive inflows in November 2021, accounting for 103 percent of overall industry long-term inflows. That compares with $78.71 billion and 94 percent in October 2021, and with $95.171 billion in November 2020. 89 firms gained net passive inflows in November 2021, up from 86 in October 2021 and up from 73 in November 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 November 2021 their clients transferred $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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