Barclays Global Investors

Barclays Global Investors is a subsidiary of British-based Barclays Bank which is in the investment management industry. It is the largest corporate money manager in the world, with over £936 billion (US$1.77 trillion) under management as of March 2006[1]. The division is headquartered in San Francisco[1], and also has research and portfolio management teams in London, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and other cities, as well as client service offices in several additional major financial centres in Europe, North America and Asia[2].The firm's chief executive is Blake Grossman

Barclays Global Investors began as units of Wells Fargo and Barclays Bank which merged in 1996. It invented the first passive index investing strategy for major institutional investors. Later, it went on to help pioneer the exchange-traded fund business (through its iShares brand), which is a security that can be traded at any time, and whose value is based on the value of a basket of stocks, bonds or commodities. ETFs can give tax advantages and intraday trading mechanic benefits that other products such as mutual funds do not. Since the economics of this activity are heavily influenced by economies of scale, Barclays grew to be the largest asset managing company in the world.
Since 2000, Barclays Global Investors' active fund management business has grown significantly, to the point where it accounted for approximately 50% of the firm's revenue in 2005.
Because the company is the largest asset manager, it is also the largest privately-held beneficial owner of companies in the world.