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AUM of top 500 asset managers lifts to record US$119.5 trillion
Assets under management of the global top 500 asset managers climbed to US$119.5 trillion in 2020.
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New data from the Thinking Ahead Institute has revealed a 14.5 per cent increase in the assets under management (AUM) held by the world’s top 500 asset managers to a record US$119.5 trillion.
The research confirmed growing concentration among the top 20 managers’ share of the total assets from 43 per cent in 2019 to 44 per cent in 2020, while their total AUM added 17.2 per cent to US$52.6 trillion.
Breaking the data into regions revealed asset managers based in North America held 59 per cent of the total AUM or US$79.6 trillion, followed by their peers in Europe at US$35 billion.
BlackRock retained its position as the largest asset manager in the ranking since 2009, while Vanguard came in second for the seventh consecutive year and Fidelity Investments reached the top three.
Commenting on Thinking Ahead’s latest findings, Roger Urwin, the co-founder of the global researcher, said unprecedented change has been witnessed within the investment industry, accelerated “dramatically” by the pandemic.
“In particular, sustainability is no longer just a luxury for some firms. Instead, during the pandemic, asset managers from all corners of the world have become even more aware of the interconnectedness of the financial system with society and the environment,” Mr Urwin said.
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According to the research, traditional asset classes of equity and fixed income continued to make up the majority of assets or 80.2 per cent in 2020, experiencing an increase of 16.4 per cent during 2019. Passive investments represent 26 per cent and increased by 16.2 per cent compared to a 15.4 per cent growth in actively managed AUM.
The dollar amount invested in ESG mandates experienced a solid boost, rising to US$1.3 billion from a previous US$900 million.
“Asset managers have always had the ambition to develop and innovate. We have seen this particularly with ESG [environmental, social and governance] mandates, which increased by 40 per cent in 2020. The biggest contributor to this was the growth in ESG ETFs,” said Mr Urwin.
The world’s largest money managers
