BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the world’s largest asset manager, has reportedly appointed a new leader for its iShares exchange traded funds business in the U.S.
Martin Small will become U.S. iShares head in March, Ashley Lau reports for Reuters, citing a memo from iShares global head Mark Wiedman sent to employees on Sunday night.
iShares is the world’s largest ETF issuer. Last year, the company hauled in a record $102.8 billion in new ETF assets, or 31% of the nearly $332 billion hauled in last year by the industry as a whole.
“Growth was driven by the iShares U.S. and European product lines, which continue to be adopted by investors across the globe. The iShares U.S. product line led the way with a record $82.8bn of new assets in 2014, surpassing the previous record for U.S. iShares ETFs of $62.0bn in 2012. In Europe, the business captured $20.3bn in net new flows,” according to a statement issued by iShares.
In the U.S. last year, three iShares ETFs – the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV), iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEArca: AGG) and the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEArca: EFA) – ranked among the top 10 asset-gathering ETFs for the year. Among issuers only Vanguard with four placed more ETFs among the top 10 funds for inflows than iShares. [Equity ETFs Lead 2014 Inflows]