The Gotham Giant regained the flows lead last month among large fund firms as the industry returned to positive inflows after a sour month, according to the latest data from the folks at a publicly traded investment research firm.

Laurence D. "Larry" Fink BlackRock Chairman, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on May 2025 mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money market funds and funds of funds. (Other asset management products, like collective trusts and separate accounts, are also not included.*) More specifically, this article focuses on the 73 firms with at least long-term mutual funds or ETFs each.

BlackRock (including iShares) pull ahead again last month, thanks to an estimated $25.33 billion in net May 2025 inflows, up by $36.906 billion month-over-month from April 2025 and up by $5.467 billion year-over-year from May 2024. Other big May 2025 inflows winners included:

Vanguard, $13.943 billion (down by $11.647 billion M/M, down by $1.014 billion Y/Y);

Invesco, $12.036 billion (up by $18.03 billion M/M, up by $4.731 billion Y/Y);

Fidelity, $7.915 billion (up by $14.717 billion M/M, down by $3.55 billion Y/Y); and

J.P. Morgan (including Six Circles), $6.802 billion (up by $5.549 billion M/M, up by $4.137 billion Y/Y).

BlackRock also leads the inflows pack over the last year, thanks to an estimated $303.389 billion in net inflows for the trailing twelve months ending May 31, 2025. Other big TTM inflows winners included: Vanguard, $218.392 billion; and State Street's SSGA, $77.67 billion.

On the flip side, Capital Group (home of American Funds) took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $5.46 billion in net May 2025 outflows, down by $2.094 billion M/M but up by $865 million Y/Y. Other big May 2025 outflows sufferers included:

T. Rowe Price, $3.842 billion (down M/M from $3.167 billion M/M, up by $1.93 billion Y/Y)

SSGA, $3.187 billion (down by $244 million M/M, down by $16.448 billion Y/Y);

SunLife's MFS, $2 billion (down by $823 million M/M, up by $20 million Y/Y); and

TIAA's Nuveen, $1.563 billion (down by $1.94 billion, up by $849 million Y/Y).

Cap Group also leads the outflows pack over the last year, thanks to an estimated $64.402 billion in TTM outflows as of May 31, 2025. Other big outflows sufferers included: T. Rowe, $50.531 billion; and Franklin Templeton (including Putnam, Royce), $46.86 billion.

As a group, large fund firms brought in $58.268 billion in net May 2025 inflows (a $92.705-billion rebound M/M), accounting for 98.8 percent of overall net industry outflows. As of May 31, 2025, large firms (9.6 percent of all fund firms) had $29.456 trillion in AUM (93.4 percent of industry AUM) across 36,049 funds (83 percent of industry funds).

Large fund firms brought in $626. 501 billion in TTM inflows as of May 31, 2025. They accounted for 95 percent of industry inflows in that period.

Across the whole industry, the 758 fund firms tracked by the M* (down by 33 Y/Y) brought in $58.976 billion in net May 2025 inflows, a $104.269-billion reversal M/M and up by $626 million Y/Y. It was the industry's 11th month of inflows in 12 months (after a brief hiccup in April). As of May 31, 2025, the industry had $31.543 trillion in AUM (up by $1.36 trillion M/M, up by $3.27 trillion Y/Y) across 43,407 funds (down by 118 M/M, up by 733 Y/Y).

The industry brought in $659.645 billion in TTM inflows as of May 31, 2025.

*This caveat is particularly important for large fund firms, many of which are big players in the 401(k) business, where collective investment trusts (CIT) and separate accounts are commonly used alternatives to traditional mutual funds. 

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