Since overtaking Fidelity a year ago as the largest manager of mutual funds for defined contribution plans, Vanguard has kept up the pressure and significantly increased its lead over its closest rival, writes Meaghan Kilroy for Pensions & Investments.

As of June 30, Malvern’s Vanguard Group reported $608.5 billion in proprietary mutual fund assets for U.S. defined contribution plans, an increase of 7.1 percent over last year. This compares to Fidelity Investments, which reported a 6.5 percent decline for the same period, but at $494.3 billion in mutual fund assets, is still comfortably ahead of third-place T. Rowe Price Group.

Kevin Jestice, principal and head of institutional investor services at Vanguard, said that the firm’s rise in assets can be credited to plan sponsors’ fee sensitivity, as well as its search for strong brands that have low costs and low tracking error in the index space.

“Plan sponsors are acutely aware of how much fees are eating into participants’ accounts,” said Jestice.

Read more about Vanguard’s dominance from Pensions & Investments here, and check out previous VISTA Today coverage of Vanguard here.