Only two ETF strategists grew by more than $1 billion last year: Vanguard Advisers [profile] and Beaumont Capital Management. Of the 25 biggest shops, 13 grew in 2015 and 12 shrank.

Frederick William McNabb III The Vanguard Group, Inc. Chief Executive Officer, President, Chairman of the Board of Directors

Today Morningstar released its "ETF Managed Portfolios Landscape Report" for Q4 2015, authored by ETF managed portfolio research analyst Ling-Wei Hew. The 48-page report covers 755 strategies from 154 firms, with combined AUM of $73 billion.

The fastest growing ETF strategist last year, per M*'s numbers, was none other a unit of index mutual fund and ETF giant Vanguard. Vanguard Advisers (now the ninth biggest ETF strategist by AUM) ended 2015 with $2.5046 billion in AUM, up $1.3989 billion for the year; that's a 127-percent increase.

Other big winners last year included: Beaumont, which rose by $1.1754-billion (a 66-percent increase) to $2.9632 billion in AUM (now the sixth biggest ETF strategist by AUM); Astor Investment Management [profile] (now tenth), which rose by $919.3 million (an 85-percent increase) to $2.0027 billion; SEI Trust Company [profile] (now 16th), which rose by $810.3 million (a 148-percent increase) to $1.358 billion; and RiverFront Investment Group (now second), which rose by $595.8 million (a 12-percent increase) to $5.3969 billion.

On the flip side, 2015 was a rough year for the hands-down biggest ETF strategist in the business, Charles Schwab's Windhaven Investment Management. Windhaven's AUM fell $4.2192 billion last year, ending at $11.9329 billion (a 26-percent drop).

The other top-25 ETF strategists whose AUM suffered the most last year were: Innealta Capital [profile] (now the 11th biggest ETF strategist by AUM), which slipped by $1.2053 billion (43 percent) to $1.5796 billion; Stadion Money Management [profile] (now fourth), which dipped by $1.0602 billion (24 percent) to $3.4158 billion; Morningstar (now fifth), which dipped by $487 million (14 percent) to $3.0165 billion; and Forward Management [profile] (now 25th), which dipped by $353 million (34 percent) to $684.7 million. (Salient bought Forward last year.) 

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