Global Asset Managers AUM Up 2.1% From The End Of 2013 by Tower Watson
The main points from this year’s survey are:
- Total assets under management of the 500 managers included in the ranking totalled US$78.1 trillion at the end of 2014, up 2.1% from the end of 2013.
- BlackRock has retained its position as the largest asset manager in the ranking for the past five years. Vanguard remains in second position while State Street has moved up the ranking by one position, displacing Allianz which has fallen from third to fourth position.
- Assets under management for North American firms were US$44.5 trillion at the end of 2014, an increase of 5.8% from the previous year. Assets managed by European managers decreased by 1.5%, to US$25.9 trillion, despite growth of 18.6% from UK-based firms taking their assets to US$6.8 trillion.
- Japanese managers ended 2014 with US$3.9 trillion, a decrease in assets of 14.4% during 2014.
- The top 20 managers’ share of the total assets increased marginally from 41.0% to 41.6%, having assets of US$32.5 trillion. Similarly the bottom 250 managers’ share of total assets increased from 5.7% to 6.0%, having assets of US$4.7 trillion.
- US managers in the top 20 managed 65.5% of total AUM for that group, while European managers had a share of 34.5%. No Japanese companies made it into the top 20 this year.
- Independent asset managers accounted for the majority (nine) of the top 20 ranked members, with banks second with eight members and only three managers are insurer-owned. This has been the case since 2012.
- Assets under management of managers from developing countries increased from 3.0% in 2013 to 3.4% in 2014.
- The majority of total assets are actively managed and grew at a slower rate than passive assets during 2014.
- Traditional asset classes of equity and fixed income continue to make up the majority of assets: 79.4% of all assets (45.3% equity, 34.1% fixed income), an increase of 12.3% during 2014 to US$37.3 trillion.
Total value of assets and growth rates
Total value of assets managed
- Assets under management of the world’s top 500 managers increased by 2.1% in 2014.
- North American managers’ assets increased by 5.8% in 2014, while European managers’ assets as well as Japanese managers’ assets decreased by 1.5% and 14.4% respectively.
- Assets managed by firms in Asia and the rest of the world category increased by 7.2% during 2014.
- The top 50 managers increased their proportion of assets at the expense of managers ranked between 51 and 250.
- The representation of the largest 20 and smallest 250 firms within the ranking has increased slowly over the past few years, at the expense of more medium-sized firms. This gives an indication that investors have been allocating capital to the largest managers, who manage a significant amount of passive and alternative indexation assets, as well as smaller, more ‘boutique’ managers who tend to manage a greater proportion of actively managed strategies1.
Distribution of assets by country
The last decade has seen an increase in the representation of managers from the US In contrast, asset managers from Japan and some other European markets have lost market share during this period.
Compound growth of AUM by country
- The increasing strength of the US dollar in the past five years has generally had a dampening effect on the growth rate of assets in local currency and is particularly evident in the Eurozone, Japan and emerging markets such as Brazil, India and South Africa.
- In the five-year period to end 2014 the Swiss franc and Chinese renminbi have appreciated relative to the US dollar.
Client domicile split by region
- Assets managed for US clients still dominate, although this has fallen from 63% in 2010 to around 57% at the end of 2014.
- Assets managed for Canadian clients grew the most in 2014, with an increase of around 67%. Similarly, assets managed for Asian and Japanese clients grew strongly, an indication perhaps that asset managers are diversifying their client bases globally.
Asset allocation split by asset class
- Equity and fixed income assets1 continue to dominate the assets managed by firms within the ranking.
- In 2014 equity assets increased by 10.5% with fixed income, alternatives and real estate asset categories increasing by around 15.0% during the year.
See full survey below.
