Office address: 333 S. Hope Street, 53rd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Website: capitalgroup.com
Year established: 1931 Company type: financial services
Employees: N/A Expertise: mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, equity management, fixed income management, retirement planning, 529 college savings plans, variable annuities, portfolio construction, target-date funds, risk management solutions
Parent company: Capital Group
Key people: Mike Gitlin (CEO), Martin Romo (chief investment officer), Jody Jonsson (vice chair), Canise Arredondo (CFO), Rob Klausner (COO), Greg Miliotes and Noriko Honda Chen (portfolio managers)
Financing status: privately held corporation
American Funds operates in Los Angeles as Capital Group's mutual fund division. The firm offers mutual funds, ETFs, target date funds, 529 college savings plans, and variable annuities. Products are also available through financial advisors and major brokerage platforms.
American Funds began as the mutual fund division under Capital Group's umbrella structure. Jonathan Bell Lovelace founded Capital Group in Los Angeles during the Great Depression in 1931.
The parent organization opened a New York office in 1943 but relocated headquarters back to Los Angeles. It also introduced the Capital System in 1958 as a fresh portfolio management approach.
American Funds expanded internationally starting in 1962 to reach major financial centers globally. Service centers specifically for American Funds shareholders operated in California starting in 1983.
American Funds' Growth Fund of America, launched in 1973, became a flagship offering. The division also entered the ETF market in 2022 with actively managed fund products.
In 2023, the division launched 12 model portfolios combining active mutual funds with passive ETFs from Schwab, Vanguard, and BlackRock. This move showed the firm's commitment to modernizing offerings for financial advisors and investors. The new portfolios became available through Fidelity, Envestnet, and Orion platforms shortly after.
American Funds offers investment products managed through in-house research and multi-manager accountability. The division serves individual and institutional investors with long-term focused strategies:
The firm's range of products spans multiple asset classes and investor goals across life stages. The division's in-house research and multi-manager approach ensures consistent quality across all offerings.
As a division of Capital Group, American Funds operates within the parent organization's values and culture. The parent company aims to foster a collaborative workplace where diverse perspectives drive better investment outcomes.
Diversity and inclusion remain central to American Funds' operations. Since Capital Group prioritizes diverse perspectives and inclusive teams, the firm also works to increase women and underrepresented minorities in leadership positions.
American Funds also integrates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into its investment approach. The organization remains committed to promoting sustainability and expanding access to financial services globally.
Mike Gitlin serves as president and CEO of Capital Group, American Funds' parent organization. Gitlin joined Capital Group after leading fixed income operations at T. Rowe Price. He holds a degree from Colgate University and has over 31 years of investment experience.
Key people are made up of leaders from the management committee:
The leadership team from Capital Group provides strategic oversight across global operations, including American Funds. Most committee members bring deep expertise from lengthy careers within the organization.
American Funds' parent organization Capital Group expanded its RecordkeeperDirect retirement plan platform to serve small and mid-sized businesses. American Funds integration into the platform allows advisors to offer clients more investment flexibility options. The updates position the division to capture growing retirement plan opportunities as advisors embrace customizable solutions for business owners.
The division is also a key mutual fund provider for advisors using direct-to-fund business models with firms like LPL Financial. In 2025, a new five basis point fee that LPL introduced will increase costs for advisors holding American Funds directly. This fee may push advisors toward advisory platforms, potentially affecting American Funds' access to LPL's large advisor network.
Don't make the mistake of letting this year's powerful rally by real estate investment trusts deter you from considering an allocation to real estate at this point in the cycle.
If commercial real estate is in such bad shape, why are real estate investment trusts thriving?
Fidelity Investments experienced outflows in its long-term mutual funds in October — the first time the fund behemoth has seen net outflows in months.
The love affair financial advisers have enjoyed with American Funds has cooled.
While the third quarter proved to be a big comeback month for inflows into open-ended mutual funds overall, one mutual fund behemoth continued to bleed assets, according to a report today from Morningstar Inc.
Investment managers are close to making up the ground they lost in the second half of 2008 when investors pulled $251 billion out of mutual funds, according to data released today by Morningstar Inc.
For the first time, American Funds shareholders this fall will be voting on whether to ask the boards of directors of 16 funds to institute a divestment policy against companies that do business in countries that practice genocide or tolerate crimes against humanity.
For the first time, American Funds shareholders will be voting this fall on whether to ask the boards of directors of 16 funds to institute a divestment policy against companies that do business in countries where genocide and crimes against humanity have occurred.
Despite the improved performance of its mutual funds, Fidelity Investments isn't likely to recapture the crown as the firm that controls the most long-term-fund assets anytime soon.
The reductions are being made across all companies and departments among the firm’s 9,000 employees, said Chuck Freadhoff, spokesman for American Funds.
Mutual fund groups groups must adjust to a new, potentially expensive distribution landscape, according to members of a round-table panel of fund executives, financial advisers and industry experts.
Four out of the top 10 largest mutual funds on Doug Fabian’s <a href=http://www.mutualfundlemonlist.com>Lemon List</a> for the first quarter were from Fidelity Investments.
The mutual fund industry is poised to do away with Class C mutual fund shares, even though the Securities and Exchange Commission gave them a reprieve by moving to table reforms.
American Funds plans to send out proxy statements next week to shareholders of its money market mutual funds seeking approval to merge two of the funds and convert one to a short-term bond fund.
American Funds will no longer sell Class B and 529-B shares of its mutual funds, effective April 21, the firm said today.
