New Delhi, Jan 14 (IANS): BlackRocks assets under management have surged past the $10 trillion-mark for the first time, as the shift into cheap passive investment funds and buoyant markets expanded the heft of the worlds largest money manager, the Financial Times reported.

New York-based BlackRock said on Friday that its assets grew 15 per cent in the fourth quarter to reach $10.01 trillion, led by inflows to its iShares exchange-traded fund platform and -- more unusually -- its active strategies, the report said.

"BlackRock delivered the strongest organic growth in our history, even as our assets under management reached new highs," Larry Fink, Chair and Chief Executive at BlackRock, said in a statement.

Fink singled out how active investing -- both its traditional stockpicking funds and alternative private market strategies -- had performed strongly, contributing more than 60 per cent of its growth in fees last year, the Financial Times reported.

This marks a big shift from only three years ago, when three-quarter of BlackRock's fee growth came from its iShares ETFs division.

"Our business is more diversified than ever before," said Fink.

However, ETFs still dominated inflows, with the crown jewel iShares unit attracting a net $104 billion in the fourth quarter, taking the 2021 total to $306 billion in net inflows -- well over $1 billion every working day of the year. This followed a record year for the global ETF industry, the report said.

The combination of rising markets and strong inflows meant that BlackRock's assets under management climbed $1.33 trillion last year, the equivalent to adding an entire Schroders, almost an Invesco or T Rowe Price, or three Janus Hendersons, the report said.