Barclays, State Street, Blackrock Claim Strong AUM Growth

Fairly awe-inspiring growth in AUM (assets under management) during 2006 at the U.S.'s 300 largest money managers. Up 16.9% year-over-year, these firms collectively added roughly three-quarters of a million dollars in assets every working second last year.

Makes you feel like you were really slacking, doesn't it.

For a third year in a row, San Francisco-based Barclays Global Investors tops the II 300, with assets of $1.81 trillion. “Our business was strong in 2006, with net new asset growth of approximately $68 billion,” CEO Blake Grossman tells II.

Boston’s State Street Global Advisors returns in second place, with $1.74 trillion under management. State Street gained more money - $307.2 billion – than any other firm in the ranking except New York-based BlackRock, which zooms from 16th place last year to fifth place in this year’s II 300, thanks in part to its acquisition of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers last September.

The top five firms in this year’s II 300, their 2005 rank, and their assets under management as of December 31, 2006, are:

[via II Magazine]