Investors in BlackRock’s index funds last year helped give the world’s largest asset manager the greatest net inflows in its 27-year history and assets under management (AUM) of $4.65 trillion (€4 trillion).
Long-term net inflows across active and passive were $181 billion in 2014, up 55% from the prior year, said Laurence D Fink, chief executive officer, last week.
The success was presaged in October last year, when BlackRock reported a 10% rise in AUM, despite experiencing significant equity outflows in the third quarter.
BlackRock’s exchange-traded fund business, iShares, saw long-term net inflows of $44.2 billion in 2014, including equity net inflows of $24.2 billion, driven partly by demand for US exposure.
Institutional index net flows were $19.6 billion, split between fixed income ($10.1 billion) and equities ($8.6 billion).
Active institutional long-term net inflows, meanwhile, were $1 billion. BlackRock saw equity net outflows of $5.5 billion, while fixed income investments saw a net inflow of $2.7 billion and multi asset inflows were almost as high.
Cash management AUM increased 5% to $296.4 billion, but advisory AUM decreased 6% to $21.7 billion.
BlackRock’s operating income saw a 16% increase in 2014. Directors approved a 13% increase in the quarterly dividend per share to $2.18 and authorised the repurchase of an additional 6 million shares under an existing share repurchase scheme.
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