The first quarter saw 35 money management deals with $811.4 billion in AUM involved, up 38% from the previous quarter.

There were a number of actions taken on ERISA lawsuits to start the year, but most were overshadowed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

During the fourth quarter of 2021, 32 ERISA-related lawsuits were filed and/or updated. Each event represents the involved parties either reaching a settlement or filing an appeal, or a court decision was made. The parties involved in the ERISA lawsuits in the fourth quarter included four financial firms, three prominent health-care firms, and other prominent companies such as Adidas America, Deloitte, Nokia of America Corp., Delta Air Lines Inc., LinkedIn Corp., The Kroger Co. and KPMG LLP. Northwestern University’s case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, with a pro-participant ruling handed down Jan. 24, 2022.

Thirty-two money management deals took place in the fourth quarter of 2021. In the fourth quarter of 2020, there were 30 transactions. Assets under management involved in the latest quarter's transactions totaled $587 billion, down 44% from $1.04 trillion in the previous quarter.

Due to soaring interest in pension risk transfers from plan sponsors as well as the significant increase in investment outsourcing to third-party money managers by insurers, Pensions & Investments collected insurance data for the first time since 2014.

During the third quarter of 2021, 23 ERISA-related lawsuits were filed and/or updated. Each event represents the involved parties either reaching a settlement or filing an appeal, or a court decision was made. The parties involved in the ERISA lawsuits in the third quarter included four financial firms, two universities, and prominent companies such as NVIDIA Corp., Juniper Networks Inc., Kraft Heinz Food Co., American Airlines Inc. and Koch Industries. Northwestern University’s case was accepted for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Thirty-two money management deals took place in the third quarter of 2021. In the third quarter of 2020, there were 15 transactions. Assets under management involved in the latest quarter's transactions totaled $1.04 trillion, up 167% from $389.5 billion in the previous quarter.

Search activity for the second quarter of 2021 decreased 6.9% from the prior quarter and increased 50.6% from the second quarter of 2020. Service provider searches decreased 17% and equity manager searches increased 25% from the prior quarter. Hiring activity increased 93.7% from the previous quarter to $92.74 billion. The number of hires increased 43% for the quarter and increased 23.1% from the same period a year ago.

Twenty money management deals took place in the second quarter of 2021. In the first quarter, there were 28 transactions. Assets under management involved in the latest quarter's transactions totaled $389.5 billion, down 69% from $1.26 trillion in the previous quarter. There also were 21 deals in the quarter that did not involve money managers.

During the second quarter of 2021, 44 ERISA-related lawsuits were filed and/or updated. Each event represents the involved parties either reaching a settlement or filing an appeal, or a court decision was made. During the second quarter of 2021, 16 stories were written on non-ERISA lawsuits that involve legal prosecution or settlements, and an additional 86 legislation and regulation stories were written.

Search activity for the first quarter of 2021 increased 40.9% from the prior quarter and decreased 20.1% from the first quarter of 2020. Hiring activity decreased 16.7% from the previous quarter to $49.1 billion

Twenty eight money management deals took place in the first quarter of 2021. In the first quarter of 2020, there were nine transactions. Assets under management involved in the latest quarter's transactions totaled $1,262 billion, down 45% from $2,294 billion in the previous quarter.

During the first quarter of 2021, 30 ERISA-related lawsuits were filed and/or updated. Each instance represents the involved parties either reaching a settlement or filing an appeal, or a court decision was made. The parties involved in the ERISA lawsuits in the first quarter included 10 financial firms, two health care-related firms, two universities, and prominent companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Raytheon Co., General Electric Co., Intel Corp., Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc., and IBM, whose case was reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Morgan Stanley's $7 billion acquisition of Eaton Vance is the latest merger deal that followed 15 third-quarter money management deals.

Search activity for the third quarter of 2020 increased 45.7% from the prior quarter but decreased 15.7% from the third quarter of 2019. Hiring activity increased 36.2% from the previous quarter to $65.47 billion. The number of hires decreased 14.5% for the quarter but increased 12.4% from the same period a year ago.

During the third quarter, 45 ERISA-related lawsuits were filed or updated, including settlements, appeals and court decisions.

Twelve money management deals took place in the second quarter of 2020, a 33% increase from the previous quarter. In the second quarter of 2019, there were 24 transactions. Assets under management involved in the latest-quarter transactions totaled $6.7 trillion, up 653% from $889.8 billion in the previous quarter, mostly driven by the 22.4% stake sale of BlackRock Inc. by PNC Financial Services Group.

During the second quarter of 2020, 43 ERISA-related lawsuits were filed and/or updated. Each event represents the involved parties either reaching a settlement or filing an appeal, or a court decision was made. The parties involved in the ERISA lawsuits in the first quarter included seven financial firms, with U.S. Bank’s case reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, six health-care-related firms, and prominent companies such as Estee Lauder Inc., IBM, Costco, DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, McKinsey & Co. and Phillips 66 Co.

Notable activity for the first quarter of 2020 included Franklin Resources Inc.’s acquisition of money manager Legg Mason for $4.5 billion, creating a firm with $1.5 trillion in assets under management. The combined Franklin Templeton, using year-end 2018 figures, would have moved to 10th from 24th in P&I’s 2019 money manager ranking. Though the financial markets seemed to be resilient against the potential impact from COVID-19 in January and February, the financial markets priced in significant fallout from COVID-19 in March. Franklin Resources could have theoretically paid $1.25 billion less if the acquisition took place in March instead of February, or Franklin Resources might not be interested in the deal at all amid uncertainty of the financial outlooks.

During the fourth quarter of 2019, 23 ERISA-related lawsuits were filed and/or updated. Each event represents the involved parties either reaching a settlement, filing an appeal or a court decision was made. The parties involved in the ERISA lawsuits in the fourth quarter included two insurance companies, three health-care-related firms, three universities, five financial firms, and prominent companies such as Intel Corporation and IBM.

Fifteen money management deals took place in the fourth quarter of 2019, a 15% increase from the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2018, there were 25 transactions. Assets under management involved in the transactions totaled $1.36 trillion, up 333% from $313 billion in the previous quarter and an increase of 74% from the same period a year ago.

Search activity for the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased 22.1% from the prior quarter and declined 44.7% from the fourth quarter of 2018. Hiring activity increased 31.2% from the previous quarter to $58.54 billion. The number of hires increased 0.2% for the quarter and decreased 3.2% from the same period a year ago.