In Q3 2025, managed vehicles recorded net inflows of $827.4 billion, according to data from ISS MarketPulse powered by Simfund Total Market. This marked a solid increase over the second quarter, when funds raised $695.8 billion. ETFs were the strongest contributor to net deposits in the third quarter, followed by mutual funds, which saw net inflows exceeding $200 billion.
Retail SMA categories had faced muted demand with inflows of $9.1 billion in the second quarter but rebounded strongly in Q3 with net commitments of $40.4 billion. The top rankings included five fixed income categories, three large-cap equity strategies, and two allocation categories. Tax-advantaged strategies continued to play a key role within SMAs. Municipal Fixed Income led the pack with net deposits of $13.6 billion, up from the $3.2 billion seen in Q2. Other leading bond categories experienced notably less uptake, with inflows ranging between $1 and $2 billion. Flexible Allocation saw the second highest flows at $9.5 billion, a sharp rise from $2.0 billion in the prior quarter. Large-cap equity strategies also improved, with Large Blend ($6.8 billion), Global Equity Large Cap ($3.8 billion), and Large Growth ($2.8 billion) all seeing increased flows compared to Q2.
For coverage of industry-wide activity and a deeper dive into mutual funds and ETFs, read our blog post: Equity ETFs and Bond Mutual Funds Drive Long-term Q3 Flows.
Among SMA-focused asset managers, BlackRock gathered the highest inflows into at $14.3 billion. The firm accounted for effectively the entirety of Q3 demand in Flexible Allocation ($9.5 billion) while also contributing heavily to Global Equity Large Cap ($2.1 billion). T. Rowe Price followed as the next highest inflow manager at $7.6 billion, driven by Large Blend ($5.6 billion).
Large Blend remained the top CIT inflow category in Q3 2025, attracting $8.2 billion, though this was a sharp drop from the $27.7 billion gathered in Q2. The decline was driven by a sharp drop-off in aggregate passive fund flows, which remained positive at $2.6 billion but fell significantly from $24.5 billion in the previous quarter. In contrast, active funds led the category in Q3 with $5.6 billion in inflows. Vanguard dominated the Large Blend category with $12.9 billion in net commitments, a huge jump from just $252.6 million in Q2, while Geode Capital Management followed with $9.0 billion. Both firms saw most of their deposits through passive S&P 500 products. Capital Group acted as the third highest inflow CIT manager with $2.1 billion inflows and was the second-largest active Large Blend manager after JPMorgan. Money Market, the second highest CIT inflow category, rebounded strongly from Q2 outflows of $1.9 billion to inflows of $7.4 billion in Q3.
Target-date funds continued to drive CIT inflows in Q3, reflecting their central role in defined contribution retirement plans. Net flows into all target-date funds totaled $45.9 billion for the quarter, though this was down from $56.6 billion in Q2. Vanguard led the segment with $16.7 billion in inflows, followed by Capital Group at $12.2 billion.
Fixed income continued to dominate institutional separate account inflows in Q3, accounting for seven of the top ten categories. Corporate Bond led the category with $29.7 billion, though this marked a slight decline from $31.2 billion in Q2. PIMCO drove most of the Q3 activity at $23.9 billion. Global Fixed Income ranked second with $9.3 billion in inflows, down sharply from $27.2 billion in the prior quarter. Inflows for Intermediate Core-Plus Bond also slowed, posting $2.5 billion compared to $11.9 billion in Q2. Short-term strategies conversely experienced a stronger third quarter. Short-Term Bond gathered $6.8 billion after minor Q2 net withdrawals of $539.9 million, while Ultrashort Bond recorded net deposits of $3.2 billion after facing outflows of $4.9 billion. Other leading inflow bond strategies included Intermediate Government ($2.2 billion) and Inflation-Protected Bond ($1.2 billion).
Institutional separate accounts also saw growing interest from real asset-focused strategies. Commodities, for example, saw flows grow to $813.4 million in Q3 after outflows of $1.6 billion in Q2. Infrastructure also improved significantly, recording $709.1 million in inflows compared to just $102.9 million in Q2.
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Alan Hess, Vice President, U.S. Fund Research, ISS Market Intelligence
Antara Maity, Senior Associate, U.S. Fund Research, ISS Market Intelligence
Aishwarya Mahalingam, Associate, U.S. Fund Research, ISS Market Intelligence
