Reuters Money

When it comes to managing retirement plans, Fidelity Investments is still America’s biggest asset manager, according to Brightscope, which independently rates retirement plans. In an exclusive ranking for Reuters, Brightscope looked at retirement plan managers by the total value of assets in their funds in the corporate retirement market.

Here is a look at the top five asset managers for retirement plans:

#1: Fidelity Investments

What makes Fidelity so special? Size certainly matters. Fidelity is the biggest recordkeeper of 401(k) plans with more than $500 billion in assets under management. “There is still no better way to increase 401(k) distribution than to control the recordkeeping platform,” says Ryan Alfred, co-founder and president of Brightscope.

Fidelity also has 50 of the 250 funds with more than $1 billion in retirement plan assets. It offers some of the nation’s most popular funds within 401(k) plans: Fidelity Contrafund, Fidelity Diversified International and Fidelity Spartan 500 funds.

#2: Vanguard Group

Vanguard recently leapfrogged Fidelity as the largest mutual fund complex by assets with $1.3 trillion. “It is no surprise that they are neck and neck with Fidelity for the top spot in the retirement marketplace,” Alfred says.

Vanguard is known for low-cost index portfolios, which are closely associated with Vanguard founder John “Jack” C. Bogle. As a result, the most popular Vanguard funds in the defined contribution market are two low-cost index portfolios — Vanguard Index 500 and Vanguard Institutional Index.

#3: American Funds

American Funds offers its funds through financial advisers. And while American Funds has a strong recordkeeping business, they are near the top of this list because they are so popular with other retirement plan providers. In fact, two thirds of the company’s retirement plan distribution can be attributed to just two funds: American Funds Growth Fund of America and American Funds Europacific Growth.

#4: State Street Global Advisors

State Street Global Advisors focuses on very large retirement plans, Alfred says. And, like Vanguard, most of its defined contribution assets are in low-cost index funds.

#5: T. Rowe Price

While T. Rowe Price (TROW) is a top-10 recordkeeper, its funds are extremely popular on other platforms. T. Rowe Price also has a large share of the stable value marketplace. And in volatile markets, stable value funds offer a safe haven for nervous investors.

Other top retirement plan asset managers:

6. BlackRock, Inc.

7. PIMCO

8. Dodge & Cox

9. Principal Financial Group

10. Wells Fargo

11. Northern Trust

12. Prudential

13. JPMorgan

14. Invesco

15. Columbia Management

16. MassMutual

17. Franklin Templeton

18. Merrill Lynch

19. Charles Schwab

20. Putnam Investments

21. American Century

22. Morgan Stanley

23. John Hancock

24. BNY Mellon

25. MFS Investment Management

Data: Brightscope

To compile this list, Brightscope used a blend of 2007 and 2008 data focusing on asset management, not recordkeeping. Stable value and subadvised funds may not be fully represented in all cases. “Corporate Defined Contribution” does not include 403(b), 457 or defined benefit plans.