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Assets directed by the firms in the II300, Institutional Investor's annual ranking of the nation's largest money managers, increased nearly 7 percent year-over-year, to $45.2 trillion, in 2014. More than 10 percent of that total is managed by New York-based BlackRock, which holds the top spot on this roster for a sixth year running.
Complete survey results can be found at www.institutionalinvestor.com/rankings.
With the active versus passive management debate still unsettled, BlackRock has products on both sides of the fence to woo each type of investor. Its exchange-traded funds line, iShares, is the largest in the U.S.
Vanguard Group, inventor of the index fund, keeps coming on strong. The Malvern, Pennsylvania-based firm rises from third place to second (and bumps Boston's State Street Global Advisors down a notch to third) after increasing its assets under management by nearly $419 billion, to $2.7 trillion. Vanguard is this year's biggest gainer, in dollar terms.
Allianz Asset Management of America, the German insurer's Newport Beach, California-based U.S. operation, is the only top five firm to suffer an AUM decline, largely owing to losses at its Pacific Investment Management Co. unit. PIMCO's assets dropped from $1.9 trillion to $1.7 trillion after famed bond manager Bill Gross departed for Janus Capital Management last fall. View more ranking results here.
