The amount of funds benchmarked to the Russell Indexes grew more than $1 trillion last year, according to recent data. A tripartite examination by Russell of data from Morningstar, a client survey and Nelson Information revealed that the Tacoma, Wash.-based group has $3.8 trillion in assets benchmarked to its indexes, up from $2.5 trillion the previous year.
The biggest increase was in the retail sector, which now stands at $1 trillion, while the most growth in terms of absolute dollars was in the institutional space, said Kelly Haughton, founder and strategic director, who described the milestone as “awesome.”
Haughton attributed much of the growth to awareness among institutional investors as the indexes become more widely used in the retail space. “The spillover in retail helps in terms of name recognition as board members change; there’s a synergy between the two,” he said. “We need to have a broad participant base and we are seeking to achieve that.”
