Passive tops the table as war, oil and a change of manager test nerves
Q2 was a noisy quarter, with the US-Israeli war on Iran, an oil spike and gilt yields at an eighteen-year high, capped by Starmer’s resignation as Labour leader in late June and Andy Burnham stepping in as the new Prime Minister. All of it played out against a noisy tournament summer. Money flowed regardless – June’s net flows of £1.8bn took the quarterly total to a respectable £4.6bn.
June belonged to passive almost entirely. Of the £1.8bn that came in, passive funds took £1.7bn and active managers a bare £45m. Gross activity tells the healthier story for active, at £10.3bn against passive’s £7.6bn, but withdrawals from active strategies were higher and passive flows much stickier.
Across the quarter the split was less lopsided, but the direction was the same. Passive took just over 70% of net flows, £3.2bn of the £4.6bn total, while active managed £1.4bn – the safe, cheap option was simply to track the index and let the AI rally do the work.
Vanguard, BlackRock and LGIM dominated gross activity in both June and the quarter, the familiar order of the index majors.
On the active side, several names are consistently attracting investors and worthy of mention: RLAM, Orbis and Artemis. It’s easy to consider RLAM as a short-term money market and credit duration play, but its Sustainable World and Sustainable Leaders funds are enduringly popular.
Over at Artemis, investors are drawn to income on one hand and equity on the other with its SmartGARP Global, European and Global Emerging Market funds drawing attention. Finally, Orbis’s multi-asset products continue to attract adviser support for robust and consistent performance.
On net flows, Quilter topped the active table in both June and the quarter, with HSBC and Orbis the other names to feature throughout. BlackRock led the all-funds table in both periods, with Amundi close behind over the quarter on the strength of its core bond and index ranges. The active winners shared a defensive tilt, from multi-asset and global equity income to fixed income, as investors reached for ballast while the war and the gilt sell-off played out.
Bella Caridade-Ferreira, Head of Insight at FE fundinfo and Finscape Lead said: “There was a lot of geopolitical and domestic noise in the second quarter, with the World Cup and other sporting events adding some colour and hope. Unfortunately, football didn’t come home, but with Andy Burnham taking over as UK Plc’s manager, it will be interesting to see whether investment trends remain the same or are substituted in the second half of the year.”
About Finscape
Finscape is FE fundinfo’s distribution intelligence tool. From Q1 2026, Finscape publishes Finscape Fundamentals, a quarterly deep-dive available exclusively to asset management clients.
For more information, contact Bella Caridade-Ferreira, bella.caridade-ferreira@fefundinfo.com.