Vanguard Leads Fund Industry With $1.4 Trillion in Assets, Says FRC

Vanguard is head and shoulders above the competition, based on the latest asset figures from the Boston-based Financial Research Corp. As of December 2010, it had some $1.4 trillion in assets, excluding proprietary fund of funds.

This put Vanguard ahead of rival American Funds, which has some $973 billion in assets under management, by about $435 billion and in front of Fidelity, with roughly $875.5 billion, by about $525 billion.

Vanguard’s assets grew 21% in 2010 and close to 66% over the past two years, FRC says. Assets at American Funds grew 5% last year and 31% in the past two years, while Fidelity’s assets expanded 17% in 2010 and 57% over the past two years.

In the number-four slot in terms of assets is Black Rock with about $585.5 billion. This group’s assets expanded 75% in the past two years. It is followed by PIMCO with $407 billion and a two-year growth rate of 96%.

Hartford Mutual Funds experienced the biggest asset growth in 2010 at 51% and in December 2010 at 34%. It ended the year at $75.7 billion in assets. JPMorgan Asset Management had the strongest two-year growth rate at 131%. It has some $124 billion in assets.  

AllianceBernstein Investment Research grew at the lowest rate of the top-25 fund groups. Its one-year asset growth rate was about 0.2% and its two-year rate was 17%.

In December 2010, the only fund group to report a drop in assets was PIMCO, with a 2% decline.

The mutual fund industry overall grew 4% in December, 18% in 2010 and 18% over the past two years, according to FRC. It has some $9 trillion in total assets.

As for the top-selling funds in December 2010, Vanguard again topped the list with five of the top-10 sellers. The Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund had inflows of $8 billion, while the Vanguard Total Bond II Fund had flows of $3 billion, for instance.

For the full-year 2010, PIMCO’s Total Return had some $26 billion in net inflows despite losing $4 billion in assets in December. The Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund gained $21 billion during the year, while the Templeton Global Bond Fund attracted $17 billion.

By Morningstar category, flows into foreign large-blend funds had the greatest inflows in December, at $7 billion. They gathered some $33 billion in assets in all of 2010.

Diversified emerging-market funds attracted $2.3 billion in flows in December and $52 billion the full-year 2010, making them the most popular segment for the year. Assets in world-bond funds grew by $2 billion in December and $36 billion for the year, FRC reports.