BlackRock's iShares taking in money fast and furious

BlackRock Inc., the largest provider of exchange-traded funds, attracted $100.1 billion into its global iShares business in 2015, bringing in money at the fastest pace of any year in its history. For the first time, the firm saw roughly equal deposits into equity and fixed-income ETFs as investor demand for bond products increased, New York-based BlackRock said Friday in a statement. Its European-listed iShares attracted a record $27.8 billion through Nov. 19, topping their previous high from 2008, when they ended the year with $25.3 billion in net new cash. (More: Franklin hires iShares developer, former BlackRock ETF executive) “We're thrilled investors have entrusted us with record flows this year,” Mark Wiedman, global head of iShares, said in the statement. “We're seeing our clients expanding the use of ETFs in their portfolios, from long-term, core investments and as tools to express a view on almost any market.” BlackRock's iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF took in the most net new business of any single fund in the lineup, pulling in $6.9 billion, followed by the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF at $5.5 billion.