BGI
This is the first year Euromoney has made an award for best fund manager. Barclays Global Investors, the winner, now has over $1.1 trillion under management and that, along with ever growing profits, makes it an increasingly important part of Barclays Group.
While the fund management industry has struggled through difficult markets in recent years, BGI has bucked the trend and continued to bring in money and make a good return on it, both for itself and its investors
In 2003 it brought in $97 billion of net new business. Since the start of this year it has taken on a further $30 billion. These are impressive sums for an operation that was long rumoured to be up for sale.
Last year its profits shot up to £192 million ($351 million) from £111 million. And while this still leaves it some way behind, for example, Barclays Capital, which produced profits of £782 million, it is nevertheless moving strongly in the right direction.
Another misperception of BGI as purely a passive manager has been overcome as the active business has grown substantially.
Active management, including a thriving hedge fund arm, now generates as much profit as its more traditional index business, though this continues to develop with its exchange traded funds now proving extremely popular.