(Bloomberg) -- Investors poured $102.8 billion into exchange-traded funds run by BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, as they made record use of the fastest-growing product in the money management industry.
BlackRock’s iShares unit, the biggest provider of ETFs, got 31% of the record $330.7 billion that investors put into the products globally in 2014, according to a statement today from the New York-based firm. Investors added $40.3 billion into iShares’s bond ETFs, or about 48% of the new money that went into fixed-income products.
“We’re seeing ETFs truly come of age, as more investors around the world recognize and embrace the versatility of these vehicles whether it’s for their strategic buy-and-hold investments or precision exposures to express a view on virtually any market,” Mark Wiedman, global head of iShares, said in the statement. “ETFs have also been discovered by capital market participants, who are using them as efficient substitutes for futures and swaps.”
BlackRock entered the $2.6 trillion ETF industry through its 2009 acquisition of Barclays Plc’s investment unit. The business accounted for 23% of BlackRock’s $4.5 trillion in assets as of Sept. 30, and 35% of investment-advisory fees. ETFs are bundles of securities that trade on an exchange like stocks.
Clients had more than $1 trillion in iShares as of Dec. 31, BlackRock said. In the U.S., the business garnered a record $82.8 billion of new assets in 2014, beating the previous record of $62 billion in 2012. In Europe, the business added $20.3 billion. Investors in Asia and Latin America added $19.8 billion through Nov. 30.
