When you think of the financial industry, New York City’s Wall Street naturally comes to mind.
Wall Street spans a mere eight blocks, but the financial institutions that line them and the surrounding neighborhoods represent the entire American financial structure. From the New York Stock Exchange to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, it touches on almost every aspect of our financial lives. Thus, it is a natural starting point whether you are an aspiring financial professional or a new investor looking for your first entrée to the firms that can make money grow.
New York City is big. It squeezes more than 8.8 million people into just over 300 square miles, making it the most densely populated city in the U.S., and a hub for the financial industry. Thus, it can make sense to start your dive by seeking out the largest American financial firms as ranked by assets under management, or AUM. All of the below firms have a presence in the Big Apple.
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AUM is the market value of the assets that the firm manages for its clients and one of the most notable factors in evaluating financial companies. Additionally, a fee based upon an advisor’s AUM is the most often used compensation structure in the industry. Firms with higher AUM typically offer a broader suite of services, giving a client a wider choice of options or a prospective advisor a more diverse career path.
Despite Wall Street’s importance to the financial community, not all institutions have their headquarters in New York. However, the largest institutions have a considerable presence in the city. Four additional firms intermingled among these American firms are headquartered abroad: Credit Agricole (France), Allianz Group (Germany), Amundi (France) and UBS Group (Switzerland).
The financial industry is full of jargon. Within the industry itself, there are important differentiations, and to a new investor or one seeking a role in the industry, the interplay of terms can be daunting. For this article’s purpose, the rankings cover the largest asset management firms, which do things like invest pooled client funds, employ personal money managers to handle individual high-net-worth accounts, and offer ETFs, mutual funds, brokerage accounts and financial advisory services for smaller investors.
Here are the 10 largest American asset management firms with a presence in New York City, ranked by AUM:
| Asset Management Firm | AUM |
| 1. BlackRock Inc. (BLK) | $9 trillion |
| 2. Vanguard Group | $7.6 trillion |
| 3. Fidelity Investments | $4.2 trillion |
| 4. State Street Global Advisors | $3.6 trillion |
| 5. Morgan Stanley (MS) | $3.1 trillion |
| 6. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) | $3 trillion |
| 7. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) | $2.6 trillion |
| 8. Capital Group | $2.3 trillion |
| 9. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) | $1.9 trillion |
| 10. Pimco | $1.8 trillion |
10. Pimco
Headquarters:
Newport Beach, California AUM: $1.8 trillion Pimco is an acronym for Pacific Investment Management Company, a firm most famous for its actively managed bond funds. However, it also offers a diverse array of equities, commodities and ETFs, among other asset classes. Founded by Bill Gross in 1971 as a private unit of Pacific Life Insurance Company, Pimco has grown to become one of the largest investment managers for central banks, pensions, corporations, foundations, endowments and sovereign wealth funds. In 2000, Allianz SE (headquartered in Munich, Germany) acquired Pimco, but continues to operate the firm as a standalone subsidiary.
9. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK)
Headquarters: New York City AUM: $1.9 trillion BNY Mellon, as it is commonly known, was created in 2007 from a merger between The Bank of New York and Mellon Financial Corp. While its current iteration is new, its history dates back to 1784 through its Bank of New York lineage. Thus, it is not only one of the three oldest banking firms in the U.S., but is among the oldest banks in the world. Currently, BNY Mellon is the world’s largest custodian bank and securities services company. While consumers typically think of a bank in terms of setting up a savings account and getting a loan, a custodian bank’s services provide administration services to other financial institutions including fund administration, fund transfers, securities lending and trustee services. These services allow both individual customers and institutions alike to make investments and safely transact in markets across the globe.
8. Capital Group
Headquarters: Los Angeles AUM: $2.3 trillion Capital Group was formed in 1931 and offers a wide range of actively managed investment options. Its subsidiary, American Funds Distributors, is well known in the financial community and among its clients due to the popularity of its flagship mutual fund, American Funds Investment Company of America (AIVSX). AIVSX is an actively managed growth and income-focused equity fund with an average annual return that has handily outperformed the S&P 500 since its 1934 inception. The firm touts a compound annual growth rate for the fund (after sales fees) of 11.93% from Jan. 1, 1934 to Aug. 31, 2023, while the S&P returned 10.96% annually over the same period. In addition to AIVSX, Capital Group offers another 53 mutual funds. It also provides separately managed accounts, private equity, high-net-worth investment services and institutional offerings worldwide.
7. Goldman Sachs Group (GS)
Headquarters: New York City AUM: $2.6 trillion Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 and has become a world conglomerate in the financial industry, with regional headquarters in Dallas and Salt Lake City, as well as abroad in the U.K., Poland, India, Hong Kong and Japan. By revenue, it is the second-largest investment bank in the world and comes in at No. 55 on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations. A partner organization of the World Economic Forum, Goldman Sachs has a niche in venture capital funding for startup businesses, including Twitter, Spotify Technology SA (SPOT) and Dropbox Inc. (DBX). Forbes has included Goldman Sachs on its “100 Best Companies to Work For” list.
6. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)
Headquarters: New York City AUM: $3 trillion JPMorgan traces its history back to 1799 through the lineage of the Chase Manhattan Bank. The merger of JPMorgan and Chase in 2000 created the largest bank in the U.S. and the company is currently listed as No. 24 on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations. Under the leadership of Jamie Dimon, CEO since 2005, JPMorgan has also surged to become the world’s largest bank by market capitalization. JPMorgan is a Bulge Bracket bank, meaning that it primarily serves institutional clients, including large corporations and sovereign governments, through corporate advisory services, mergers and acquisitions activity, initial public offerings, and private asset management. The firm also provides institutional research on a diverse range of topics, from personal finance to geopolitics. Individual clients can also access retail banking and credit card services through Chase Bank. The firm was tapped by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., or FDIC, to purchase First Republic Bank during the 2023 regional banking crisis, picking up assets from its high-net-worth private banking activities. JPMorgan will consolidate operations in its new Park Avenue headquarters in 2025.
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5. Morgan Stanley (MS)
Headquarters: New York City AUM: $3.1 trillion Morgan Stanley has been a staple in the financial community for almost 90 years. The firm was the result of the Glass-Steagall Act, legislation that defined the provisions of the Banking Act of 1933 and required that banking firms separate their commercial and investment activities. Through a series of acquisitions, most notably the 1997 merger with Dean Witter Discover & Co., the firm has provided three main services: institutional securities, wealth management and investment services. Individual retail investors resonate with Morgan Stanley’s online brokerage subsidiary, E-Trade, as well as advanced investing and wealth management solutions in a 2021 partnership with Eaton Vance.
4. State Street Global Advisors
Headquarters: Boston AUM: $3.6 trillion State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), the investment management division of State Street Corp. (STT), was created in 1978. However, in 1990, the two entities divided in order for SSGA to expand abroad. While long a valued player in indexed mutual funds, SSGA became extremely popular when it created the first exchange traded fund, or ETF, in 1993. Designed to track the S&P 500, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is the largest and oldest ETF in the world. SSGA also launched the first foreign real estate ETF in 2006 and now has 46 different ETFs available for individual U.S. investors alongside its institutional asset management. In more recent times, SSGA was responsible for the 2017 commission of Kristen Visbal’s “Fearless Girl,” the bronze statue of the young girl that was positioned facing the iconic Wall Street “Charging Bull” statue.
3. Fidelity Investments
Headquarters: Boston AUM: $4.2 trillion Fidelity was founded in 1946 and has some of the most extensive individual investment options of any company on this list. It offers a large family of mutual and index funds, a brokerage firm, retirement plan services, wealth management advisory, asset custody and even life insurance. Even though the corporation was officially formed in 1946, Fidelity’s roots were driven by the Great Depression. During this tenuous time, the “Fidelity Fund” was the only new fund approved by John Hull, then the securities director for Massachusetts. The firm has the sole female CEO in this listing. Assuming her role in 2014, Abigail Johnson is the granddaughter of Edward C. Johnson II, the founder of Fidelity Investments. With personal wealth of around $25 billion, Johnson is one of the world’s most influential and wealthiest women. She continues to innovate at Fidelity: In 2018, Fidelity introduced cryptocurrency investment, enabling Bitcoin and Ethereum trading by institutional investors. Individual investors can also access Fidelity Go, the firm’s robo advisor, with no minimum account requirements.
2. Vanguard Group
Headquarters: Valley Forge, Pennsylvania AUM: $7.6 trillion Like Fidelity, Vanguard is focused squarely on the individual investor. As an American registered investment advisor, or RIA, it is the largest provider of mutual funds, consistently making up the bulk of top funds for the Lipper Index, a series of indices that benchmark performance. Additionally, it is the second-largest provider of ETFs after BlackRock. Vanguard offers a full range of individual services, including brokerage, financial planning, asset management and trust work. The firm was founded by John C. Bogle in 1975. Bogle’s legacy was the creation of the First Index Investment Trust, a precursor to the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, as one of the first index mutual funds available to the general public. The success of his fund paved the way for the popularity of passive investments guided by the principle of low internal fees. This philosophy has enabled Vanguard to become the leader in low-cost investing, earning the praise of buy-and-hold investors and retirement savers. In concert with this philosophy, Vanguard offers its robo advisor, Vanguard Digital Advisor, with a $3,000 minimum account, but lower AUM fees than Fidelity.
1. BlackRock Inc. (BK)
Headquarters: New York City AUM: $9 trillion BlackRock is the newest firm in the mix, but it’s fitting that the largest firm in this ranking is firmly headquartered in New York City. The firm occupies over 1 million feet of space at the brand new 50 Hudson Yards, an area formerly known as Hell’s Kitchen. The area is undergoing a massive reconstruction effort, much as BlackRock has taken on the financial world since its founding in 1988 and successful IPO in 1999. Led by Chairman and CEO Larry Fink, BlackRock now operates in 30 countries with 70 offices, serving clients in 100 countries globally. It is especially known for the highly popular iShares, the largest issuer of ETFs in the U.S. and globally.
The firm also provides BlackRock Solutions, which tracks investment portfolios for major financial institutions. Ranked No. 184 on the Fortune 500 list, BlackRock’s initial work in enterprise risk management and fixed-income institutional asset management has evolved to include a heavy emphasis on environmental, social and corporate governance, or ESG, seeking to become an industry leader. In 2020, BlackRock became the first global asset manager to start operations in China. It also has been tapped by the U.S. government to lead efforts in national crisis times, such as corporate bond-buying programs during the COVID-19 pandemic and, most recently, the dissolution of $114 billion in assets from the failures of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank during the 2023 regional banking crisis.
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Update 09/12/23: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
