A fixed income ETF shop led the way last quarter among the smallest fund firms.

Leland Carroll Clemons BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation CEO, Founder

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on March 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 523 firms (up month-over-month from 518 in February 2023 and up year-over-year from 514 in March 2022) with less than $1 billion each in long-term fund AUM.

Micro fund firms had $100 billion in total, long-term AUM across 2,836 funds as of March 31, 2023, accounting for 0.42 percent of overall industry long-term fund AUM. That compares with $99 billion, 2,753 funds, and 0.42 percent of industry AUM on February 28, 2023, and with $94 billion and 0.36 percent of industry AUM on March 31, 2022.

197 of those micro fund firms brought in net inflows in March 2023. That's down M/M from 236 in February 2023 and down Y/Y from 237 in March 2022.

BondBloxx led the micro firm pack last quarter, thanks to an estimated $338 million in net inflows in the first quarter of 2023. Other big Q1 2023 inflows winners included: Ambrus, $158 million; Kovitz, $154 million; Strive, $150 million; and CrossingBridge, $102 million.

BondBloxx also took the lead last month, thanks to an estimated $147 million in net March 2023 inflows, up M/M from $54 million in February 2023 and up Y/Y from no net flows in March 2022. Other big March 2023 inflows winners included: Perpetual, $74 million (up M/M from $13 million in net outflows); and Vert, $69 million (up M/M from $12 million, up Y/Y from $5 million).

On the flip side, Callahan's Trust for Credit Unions led the outflows pack last quarter, thanks to an estimated $518 million in net Q1 2023 outflows. Other big Q1 2023 outflows sufferers included: AlphaCentric, $129 million; Frontier, $107 million; Liberty Street, $91 million; and Toews.

TCU also took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $410 million in net March 2023 outflows, up M/M from $55 million in February 2023 and up Y/Y from $355 million in March 2022. Other big March 2023 outflows sufferers included: Lyrical, $93 million (down M/M and Y/Y from $7 million in net inflows); and Frontier, $75 million (up M/M from $14 million, down Y/Y from $481 million).

As a group, micro fund firms brought in $501 million in net inflows in Q1 2023. That's equivalent to 0.5 percent of their combined AUM.

Yet in March, micro fund firms suffered an estimated $451 million in net outflows, equivalent to 0.45 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 1.77 percent of overall industry outflows. That compares with $638 million in net inflows and 0.65 percent of AUM in February 2023, and with $770 million in net inflows, 0.82 percent of AUM, and 2.51 percent of industry inflows in March 2022.

Across the entire industry, the 785 firms tracked by the M* team (up M/M from 782 but down Y/Y from 791) brought in an estimated $15.168 billion in net inflows in Q1 2023. That's equivalent to 0.06 percent of their combined $23.968 trillion in AUM (which is spread across 42,221 funds).

In March 2023, the industry overall suffered an estimated $25.527 billion in long-term fund outflows, equivalent to 0.11 percent of the industry's long-term AUM. That compares with $3.245 billion and 0.01 percent of AUM in February 2023, and with $30.653 billion in net inflows and 0.12 percent of AUM in March 2022.

Active funds suffered an estimated $58.306 billion in net outflows in March 2023, up M/M from $7.279 billion but down Y/Y from $70.411 billion. On the flip side, passive funds brought in $32.778 billion in March 2023 inflows, up M/M from $4.034 billion but down Y/Y from $101.064 billion. 

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