A white label shop took the lead last month among the smallest fund firms as the group's inflows dipped a bit.

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on February 2023 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds of funds. (Other asset management products, like CITs and SMAs, are also not included.) More specifically, this article focuses on the 518 firms (down month-over-month and year-over-year from 519 in January 2023 and February 2022) with less than $1 billion each in long-term fund AUM.

Micro fund firms had $99 billion in total, long-term AUM across 2,753 funds as of February 28, 2023, accounting for 0.42 percent of overall industry long-term fund AUM. That compares with $100 billion, 2,730 funds, and 0.41 percent on January 31, 2023, and with $94 billion and 0.36 percent on February 28, 2022.

236 of those micro fund firms brought in net inflows in February 2023. That's down M/M from 248 in January 2023 and down Y/Y from 279 in February 2022.

Oaktree, $80 million (up M/M from negligible outflows, up Y/Y from $5 million in net inflows); Ambrus, $63 million (roughly no change M/M); BondBloxx, $54 million (down M/M from $137 million, up Y/Y from $12 million); and CrossingBridge, $51 million (up M/M from $11 million, down Y/Y from $171 million).

After the first two months of 2023, North Slope led the year-to-date inflows pack, thanks to an estimated $229 million in net inflows. Other big inflows winners included: BondBloxx, $191 million; and Kovitz, $154 million.

On the flip side, Liberty Street took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $88 million in net February 2023 outflows, up M/M from $5 million in January 2023 but down Y/Y from $169 million in February 2022. Other big February 2023 outflows sufferers included: Callahan's Trust for Credit Unions, $55 million (up M/M from $54 million, down Y/Y from $500 million); Muhlenkamp, $40 million (down M/M from $3 million in net inflows, down Y/Y from $4 million in net inflows); Spyglass, $40 million (down M/M from $4 million in net inflows, down Y/Y from $79 million in net outflows); and Ashmore, $35 million (up M/M from $3 million, down Y/Y from $72 million).

After the first two months of 2023, Trust for Credit Unions led the YTD outflows pack, thanks to an estimated $109 million in net outflows. Other big YTD outflows sufferers included: Liberty Street, $93 million; and Overlay Shares, $76 million.

As a group, micro firms brought in $638 million in net February 2023 inflows, equivalent to 0.65 percent of their combined AUM. That compares with $696 million and 0.69 percent in January 2023, and with $1.18 billion and 1.25 percent in February 2022.

After the first two months of 2023, micro firms had $1.197 billion in YTD inflows. That's equivalent to 1.21 percent of their combined AUM and accounts for 2.9 percent of overall industry long-term inflows.

Across the entire industry, the 782 firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 783 and down Y/Y from 795) suffered an estimated $3.245 billion in net February 2023 outflows, equivalent to 0.01 percent of their combined long-term fund AUM of $23.493 trillion. That compares with $42.682 billion in net inflows and 0.18 percent of industry AUM in January 2023, and with $47.85 billion in net inflows and 0.18 percent of AUM in February 2022.

Passive funds brought in $4.034 billion in net long-term fund inflows in February 2023, down M/M from $47.436 billion in January 2023 and down Y/Y from $80.08 billion in February 2022 outflows.

The entire long-term fund industry brought in $41.317 billion in net inflows in the first two months of 2023. That's equivalent to 0.18 percent of the industry's combined long-term fund AUM. 

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