Passive Strategies Dominated Fund Flows in March

Long-term mutual funds and exchange-traded products (ETPs) experienced net deposits of $75.4 billion in March, slightly down from the $79.4 billion in net new flows seen in February, according to Strategic Insight, parent company of PLANADVISER.

Passive strategies accounted for nearly all of March’s net new flows at $75.4 billion (including $44.2 billion to ETPs). Active long-term funds experienced $90 million in net outflows in March and $102 million in outflows over the first quarter.

Taxable Bonds continued to experience the highest net deposits among long-term funds at $41.0 billion. Over the course of the first quarter, Taxable Bond funds garnered flows of $111.5 billion, while U.S. Equity funds and International Equity funds experienced net deposits of $45.8 billion and $47.7 billion, respectively. Tax-Free Bond funds experienced minor inflows of $1.2 billion in March.

International Equity funds took the lead among Equity funds in March with net flows of $17.3 billion against $15.1 billion raised in February. Domestic Equity funds experienced a decline in net new flows with $15.9 billion in March, from $24.5 billion in February.

Money Market funds saw stronger net redemptions in March ($19.2 billion) than they had in February ($2.1 billion). Taxable Money Market funds accounted for the greatest proportion of outflows at $18.9 billion, led by the $18.2 billion in net redemptions from government money market funds.

More about Strategic Insight is at www.sionline.com.