Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions). Our next question will from the line of Roger Smith with Fox-Pitt Kelton.
Laurence Fink
Hey, Roger.
Roger Smith – Fox-Pitt Kelton
Thanks very much. My first question really is on the RFPs that you're talking about and you said it is much more robust business. Should we think about that happening right now in the third quarter and fourth quarter? Or does the activity really start, the discussions really start today and then the transfers of the money kind of really accelerate in 2010?
Laurence Fink
I'll let Sue answer that because she hasn't talked yet.
Roger Smith – Fox-Pitt Kelton
That's fine.
Sue Wagner
Hi, Roger. It is a great question. I mean the RFP pipeline represents (inaudible) and opportunities that are in process across an entire spectrum. So, I guess I would say as a rule of thumb that on average you are probably between one and two quarters lag from the time that something enters the pipeline to the time that a decision is made. But that is really an average with the best tail, we don't really have data that tells us that is something you can rely on.
Laurence Fink
I would also say, Roger, when you are working with clients on fiduciary outsourcing that is multi-products, the RFP process could be six months. It is a very long process in which working with the management team, sometimes their outside boards, and so really depends on the type of client in this RFP process.
Sue Wagner
What they're transitioning from. The other thing I will say though is that the pipeline that we report on AUM those are completed. So, those are actually wins that have either funded or are yet to fund. And the turnover in that part of the pipeline there is probably less than a quarter of that, that extends beyond one quarter.
Roger Smith – Fox-Pitt Kelton
Got you. Okay. And then when I look at sort of the retail flow data that's going on these days, there is a lot of money going into the fixed income world and particularly it looks like it's global and then shorter-term money. Now is there a difference between what the institutional investors are doing right now sort of compared to the retail? Or should we think about that the same way?
Laurence Fink
Well as I said earlier institutional investors in the U.S. are moving out of fixed income and the equity, so they started to relook at. And so we saw some rebalancing out of fixed versus equities. We want some of that. Did not win some good, but we have seen that. And I think we're going to continue to see that. So you are seeing flows as you suggested in the retail and that continues. And I would just say our U.S. retail fixed income funds were not as robust in terms of our presence in the marketplace as some of our competitors. And this is something that I discussed about a year ago. We're putting a huge effort in it. We're putting a huge effort. We're beginning to see more and more flows on the retail side. But clearly I would say we didn't get the flows that some other firms have gotten because our presence in fixed income mutual funds were not as strong as some of our peers and we did not emphasize it as much up until about a year ago.
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