FINSCAPE FUND FLOWS, MAY 2026
Active outsells passive as the Iran war keeps markets on edge
The US-Israeli war on Iran set the mood for May but markets barely blinked. Equities held near record highs while the bond market did the fretting, with yields spiking mid-month before oil and gilts settled again. For asset managers, the month mattered for a different reason. With the UK tax-year rush behind them and the summer lull beckoning, flows were expected to soften. They didn’t – net flows came in at £485m.
April belonged to passive, sweeping up two thirds of net flows, but May turned the tables. Active managers took £576m of net flows while passive funds slipped into an outflow of £91m. After the run passive has enjoyed, it’s one the active houses will happily bank.
For all that active turned the tables, the names at the top of the net table were the usual index giants. BlackRock and Amundi led, a reminder that the trackers keep gathering assets whatever the weather. The interest lies just below them, in what the active winners were selling. Orbis, HSBC and BNY Mellon took the honours, and the thread running through them was income and defensiveness: multi-asset portfolios, equity income and infrastructure income. With a war on and bond yields lurching about, investors needed ballast.
Bella Caridade-Ferreira, Head of Insight at FE fundinfo and Finscape Lead said: “Equities have shrugged off the war so far, but the gap between buoyant stock markets and jittery bond markets is one to watch. If yields stay high and the Strait of Hormuz stays shut, the resilience that carried the first half of the year will be tested. For now, investors are ignoring the noise and backing active managers to earn their keep. Whether that holds through the summer rests less on funds than on the oil price.”
About Finscape
Finscape is FE fundinfo’s distribution intelligence tool. From Q1 2026, Finscape will publish Finscape Fundamentals, a quarterly deep-dive available exclusively to asset management clients.
For more information, contact Bella Caridade-Ferreira, bella.caridade-ferreira@fefundinfo.com.