ETFs drew BlackRock's and Invesco's flows as AB and Artisan had active equity outflows

Four asset managers that reported third-quarter results between October 14 and October 27 show the same split in where client money went: ETFs and, at three of them, private markets or alternatives took in assets, while active public-equity strategies lost them at AllianceBernstein and Artisan Partners. The releases from BlackRock, Invesco, AllianceBernstein and Artisan Partners do not explain why clients chose as they did, and four firms do not make an industry, but their own figures make the pattern visible.

Four managers, four net flow results

Manager	Reported	Net flows in the third quarter
BlackRock	October 14	Net inflows of $205.5 billion, of which $174.8 billion long-term and $30.7 billion cash management
Invesco	October 27	Net long-term inflows of $35.1 billion; $88.5 billion including money market funds
AllianceBernstein	October 27	Net inflows of $6.6 billion
Artisan Partners	October 27	Net outflows of $10.6 billion

Sources: company earnings releases filed with the SEC. The firms define flows differently, so the totals are not directly comparable.

ETFs carried the inflows

At BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), ETFs took in $134.5 billion, which is 77% of its $174.8 billion of long-term net flows (computed). Chairman and Chief Executive Laurence D. Fink said in the release: "iShares generated $135 billion of net inflows, diversified across categories and global product lines." Active strategies also drew money at BlackRock, with $66.4 billion of net inflows, which Fink said were "led by our fixed income and systematic franchises."

At Invesco (NYSE: IVZ), the ETFs and Index capability took in $28.5 billion and QQQ, the ETF that converted from a unit investment trust to an open-end fund in December 2025, took in $6.7 billion. Together those two lines exceed Invesco's $35.1 billion of net long-term inflows, because three capabilities had outflows. A separate FinanceInTime article covers Invesco's results in full.

At AllianceBernstein (NYSE: AB), passive strategies took in $2.5 billion in the quarter. Chief Executive Seth Bernstein said that "in equities, demand favored passive strategies." Artisan Partners (NYSE: APAM) is preparing its first ETF share classes; its CEO, Jason Gottlieb, said the firm is "progressing as planned toward the launch of our first ETF share classes in the fourth quarter."

Where the outflows were

The outflows were concentrated in two places. One was index money that did not come through ETFs: BlackRock's non-ETF index products had net outflows of $26.1 billion, within institutional index outflows of $27.4 billion. The other was active public equity. Bernstein said AllianceBernstein's "active equity outflows of roughly $13 billion continued to weigh on flows." AllianceBernstein's retail channel had net outflows of $8.4 billion, while its institutional channel had net inflows of $15.7 billion.

Artisan Partners reported net client cash outflows of $10.6 billion, compared with $10.5 billion in the second quarter and $2.3 billion a year earlier. Gross outflows were $18.4 billion against gross inflows of $7.9 billion. Gottlieb said the outflows were "driven by redemptions in our public-equity strategies, including previously reported redemptions of $1.9 billion associated with the U.S. Value team wind-down and $5.9 billion of rebalancing from a large client relationship." Those two items add up to $7.8 billion (computed), about three-quarters of the firm's net outflows.

At Invesco, net outflows were $2.6 billion from Fundamental Fixed Income and $1.9 billion from Fundamental Equities.

Private markets and credit

BlackRock's private markets products took in $15.3 billion and its alternatives as a whole $24.2 billion. AllianceBernstein said its alternatives and multi-asset solutions line generated $15 billion of net inflows, including the onboarding of about $12 billion of commercial mortgage loans, and that its private markets assets reached $105 billion, up 33% from a year earlier. Artisan Partners said credit and alternative strategies took in about $1.1 billion, a 17% annualized growth rate. Invesco was the exception among the four: its Private Markets capability had net outflows of $0.4 billion.

The market backdrop

Flows and market moves both change assets under management, and the releases show different mixes. In AllianceBernstein's table of third-quarter returns, the S&P 500 returned 2.3% and the MSCI EAFE index 0.9%, while the Bloomberg US Aggregate bond index returned -3.5% and the global high-yield index, hedged, -2.0%. Invesco said net market losses reduced its assets by $26.4 billion, and Artisan Partners' investment returns and other items were a net negative $3.8 billion. AllianceBernstein's assets ended the quarter at $900.4 billion, down 0.6% from the end of June, even though it had net inflows. Artisan Partners ended the quarter with $168.7 billion.

BlackRock's assets stood at $15.5 trillion after $869 billion of net inflows over the previous 12 months.

What the releases do not show

The releases show where money went, not why. They do not say whether clients moved between products inside the same firm, for example from active funds to ETFs, or left for other managers. BlackRock's own category of systematic active equities was named among the areas of "broad-based strength," which shows that active management did not lose across the board. The pattern also rests on four companies with different client bases: BlackRock's ETFs held $6.4 trillion of assets at September 30, while Artisan Partners describes itself as "a talent-driven investment platform."

What to watch

AllianceBernstein's cash distribution of $0.88 per unit is payable on November 19 to holders of record on November 6, and Invesco's common dividend of $0.215 per share is payable on December 2 to holders of record on November 13, according to their releases. Artisan Partners expects to launch its first ETF share classes in the fourth quarter. Fourth-quarter flow figures from each firm will show whether the split in the third quarter persisted.