In a 'brutal backdrop for any asset manager,' here are the winners and losers

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In a 'brutal backdrop for any asset manager,' here are the winners and losers

Larry Fink

AP

Larry Fink's BlackRock emerged as a winner during the fourth quarter.

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  • Asset managers faced a tough fourth quarter, with market volatility leading many investors to rework their portfolios and pull money.
  • Out of the five largest asset managers, BlackRock and JPMorgan Asset Management emerged as clear winners for new money coming in.
  • Meanwhile, State Street and BNY Mellon Investment Management saw $65 billion combined leave during the quarter.

It was a tale of the haves and the have-nots.

An analysis of the five largest publicly-traded US asset managers showed clear winners and losers in a volatile quarter that led many investors to play defense, pulling money out as the market dipped. It was "a brutal backdrop for any asset manager," Evercore ISI analyst Glenn Schorr wrote in a research note earlier in January.

The world's largest manager, BlackRock, saw nearly $50 billion of inflows, which Schorr called "unreal" during "an insanely volatile quarter." That new money was driven by $81 billion of money coming into the firm's exchange-traded-funds platform, iShares, and more than made up for nearly $35 billion in institutional outflows.

See more: BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is getting smaller

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On the other hand, State Street lost nearly as much money as BlackRock gained during the quarter.

"Cumulative industry flows were dramatically down after significant inflows during last year and client transaction activity was muted, as investors sat on the sidelines," chief executive officer Ron O'Hanley said on State Street's fourth quarter earnings call.

Here's how the top five largest public managers fared last quarter:

Asset managers' Q4 fund flows

Yutong Yuan/Business Inside

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