BlackRock/iShares had a combined $298 billion in global asset flows last year, snagging Vanguard’s seat as the fund family with the highest annual inflows, an honor it’s had since 2013, according to Morningstar.
Vanguard took in $263 billion in global fund flows last year and was followed by Fidelity, with $193 billion in flows overall. The figures include both long-term and money market funds.
Much of the asset growth was driven by flows to fixed income funds, Morningstar said. Long-term global flows almost doubled in 2019 to $1 trillion, nearly all of which went into fixed income funds, which had record inflows. U.S. fixed income flows were $521 billion, while combined net flows to all other categories in the U.S. were negative. Globally, equity inflows were just $9 billion.
iShares’ fixed income funds collected $116 billion, while BlackRock’s domestic fixed income products took in $14 billion.
Vanguard also saw success in the fixed income space, with its U.S. bond products bringing in $92 billion in net assets. Still, the ever-popular Vanguard Total Stock Market Index fund, the largest fund in the U.S., grew by nearly $19 billion during the year.