Graphic: The year in hirings

Alts wane: Asset owners switched the script in 2016, with 63% of the assets moved going to traditional asset classes. The decline in alternative assets came as relative interest in hedge funds and private equity waned.

Equities lead: Hires in 2016 were up $80 billion from 2015. Equity managers were in highest demand, with 28% of all hiring activity focused on that space. Fixed-income managers saw renewed interest as hires were up $21 billion. Real asset allocations were down 10%.

The rich get richer: BlackRock had 71 hires in 2016 for $32.3 billion in institutional assets, led by a fourth-quarter allocation of $11 billion by Dutch Pensioenfonds ING and a $9 billion global equity allocation by Sweden’sAP7. Nearly 90% of those assets were invested in traditional equity or fixed income.