BlackRock just pulled in record cash for a $1.9 trillion business
- BlackRock brought in a record $25.3 billion to its passive products in November, more than double Vanguard's inflows, according to new Morningstar data.
- BlackRock's iShares business, already the world's biggest ETF provider, is a major growth area for the world's largest asset manager.
BlackRock notched a record month in November for new investor cash into its massive exchange traded funds business, according to a new Morningstar report.
The world's largest asset manager attracted $25.3 billion in net flows into its iShares ETFs last month, beating a previous record of $23.7 billion set in April 2017.
BlackRock dwarfed second-place Vanguard in November, which brought in $10.7 billion, according to Morningstar.
BlackRock is close to setting another record this month, with $31.2 billion in inflows so far in December into its passive funds business, according to Bloomberg data.
iShares, already the world's biggest ETF provider, is a major growth area for BlackRock, as individual investors turn to cheaper, and often better-performing, passively managed investments over active strategies. The platform managed $1.9 trillion as of September 30, which represents 29% of the firm's total assets under management. Gary Shedlin, the firm's CFO, said earlier this month that iShares will expand above the firm's 5% growth target.
See more: Investors are fleeing active funds in the worst month for managers in nearly 2 years
"The index investing industry has been growing rapidly, with ETFs as a major beneficiary, driven by the migration from commission-based to fee-based wealth management, clients' focus on value for money, the use of ETFs as alpha tools and the growth of all-to-all trading in fixed income," Shedlin said at a conference.
Overall, investors across the asset management industry exited actively managed stock funds in November at nearly the same rate as those entering passive funds. Active strategies saw $57.4 billion in outflows last month, while passive picked up $55.9 billion, Morningstar said.
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