Third-party, long-term mutual fund and ETFs assets under management increased 23 percent in 2013 to $8.8 trillion, up from $7.1 trillion in 2012, Broadridge Financial Solutions announced today.
Independent broker-dealers and registered investment advisers were the largest distribution channels for long-term mutual funds and ETFs, according to the data from Access Data, a Broadbridge subsidiary.
Independent broker-dealers led in third-party distribution with $2.05 trillion in AUM, a 23-percent increase over the previous year, and independent RIAs were second with $1.62 trillion, a 17-percent increase over 2012.
The overall growth of the independent broker-dealer channel, which ranked number one in AUM compared to other distribution channels from 2011 to 2013, was driven by long-term mutual funds, with an increase in AUM of 24 percent last year, according to Access Data.
This compares to an increase in long-term mutual funds for the RIA and wirehouse channel during 2013 of 13 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively.
Within the RIA channel, ETFs have grown 33 percent. For independent broker-dealers, the increase was 18 percent, and for wirehouse channels, 25 percent.
“The independent retail channels continued on a strong growth path in 2013 and we expect IBDs and RIAs to remain the leading distribution channels of long-term mutual funds and ETFs in 2014. The data we gather shows that long-term funds are driving growth for IBDs, but ETFs gained a larger share of RIA asset growth in 2013,” says Frank Polefrone, senior vice president of Access Data.