T. Rowe Price AUM Slides Nearly 25% in 2022

T. Rowe Price, which reduced its workforce as it sought to cut costs during rocky financial markets last year, saw assets under management decline by nearly 25% in 2022, the Baltimore investment firm said Thursday.

In reporting its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results for 2022, T. Rowe noted it ended the year with more than $1.27 trillion in assets under management, down 24.5% from nearly $1.69 trillion a year earlier.

During the fourth quarter, assets under management increased by $44.7 billion, driven by market appreciation and gains, partially offset by net cash outflows.

The firm reported net client outflows of $17.1 billion for the fourth quarter and $61.7 billion for the year.

Equities accounted for $14.3 billion in fourth-quarter net outflows, largely driven by the firm’s growth-oriented strategies, primarily U.S. large-cap growth. These outflows were partly offset by net inflows into structured research, all-cap, and dividend growth strategies, the firm said.

T. Rowe Price President and CEO Rob Sharps noted that stocks closed out their worst year since 2008 even though all developed equities markets and most in emerging markets saw gains in the fourth quarter. And despite a late rally in bond markets, he said, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index experienced its worst year since its inception in 1976.