$1T+ club is dominated by U.S. based asset managers
The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.
In the late 1700s, it was the start of the battle of stock exchanges: in 1773, the London Stock Exchange was formed, and the New York Stock Exchange was formed just 19 years later.
Below is our 13F roundup for some high profile hedge funds for the three months to the end of March 2021 (Q1). Q1 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more The statements only include equity positions as 13Fs do not include cash and debt holdings. They also only include US equity holdings. Funds may hold Read More
And while London was a preferred destination for international finance at the time, England also had laws that restricted the formation of new joint-stock companies. The law was repealed in 1825, but by then it was already too late.
In the U.S., exchanges in New York City and Philadelphia took full advantage by dealing in stocks early on. Eventually, for this and a variety of other reasons, the NYSE emerged as the most dominant exchange in the world – helping propel New York and Wall Street to the center of finance.
The Center of Finance
Wall Street, and the U.S. in general, is now synonymous with finance – and most of the world’s largest banks, funds, and investors maintain a presence nearby. The biggest asset management companies, which pool investments into securities such as stocks and bonds on behalf of investors, are no exception to this.
Today’s chart shows all global companies with over $1 trillion in assets under management (AUM).
Not surprisingly, all but 17.1% of assets managed by this $1 Trillion Club are overseen by companies based in the United States.
| Rank | Company | Country | AUM |
| #1 | BlackRock Inc. | USA | $5.7 trillion |
| #2 | Vanguard Group | USA | $4.4 trillion |
| #3 | State Street Global Advisors | USA | $2.6 trillion |
| #4 | Fidelity Investments | USA | $2.3 trillion |
| #5 | J.P. Morgan Asset Management | USA | $1.9 trillion |
| #6 | BNY Mellon | USA | $1.8 trillion |
| #7 | Pimco | USA | $1.6 trillion |
| #8 | Amundi | France | $1.6 trillion |
| #9 | Capital Group | USA | $1.4+ trillion |
| #10 | Legal & General Investment Management | UK | $1.3 trillion |
| #11 | Government Pension Investment Fund | Japan | $1.2 trillion |
| #12 | PGIM | USA | $1.0+ trillion |
| #13 | Northern Trust | USA | $1.0 trillion |
| #14 | Wellington Management | USA | $1.0 trillion |
| #15 | Norges Bank Investment Management | Norway | $1.0 trillion |
Even further, outside of Northern Trust (Chicago), Pimco (Newport Beach), and Capital Group (Los Angeles), the remaining U.S. companies are based in the Northeast specifically – either on Wall Street, or just a short drive away.
The Newest Entrant
The newest entrant to the $1 trillion club is Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which is managed by Norges Bank Investment Management. It’s the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, and it was “never forecast” to get so big.
The Norwegian fund recently joined France’s Amundi ($1.6 trillion), the UK’s Legal & General ($1.3 trillion), and Japan’s Goverment Pension Investment Fund ($1.2 trillion) as non-U.S. members of this exclusive club.
Article by Jeff Desjardins, Visual Capitalist