Is the center of the mutual fund universe shifting away from Boston? BusinessWeek asked that question Wednesday, remarking that The Hub's "big-three" fund companies have been losing market share over the past ten years.

Fidelity Investments, Putnam Investments and MFS Investment Management, all former or current top-ten money managers, saw their hold of the equity and bond fund market drop from 21 percent to 12 percent between 1999 and 2009, according to Morningstar data. In that period, Fidelity dropped from first to fourth place, Putnam fell from fourth to 26th, and MFS tumbled from 10th to 16th.

BusinessWeek says that more sophisticated funds, such as Pimco Total Return and Vanguard Total Stock Market Index are grabbing capital away from older, albeit distinguished, funds like the Fidelity Magellan. Additionally, ETF and index Funds, the investment du jour, were never a high priority at most Boston companies (State Street excluded).

Boston fund firms are of course working to get back what they've lost. Putnam's Bob Reynolds said he wants to be a top-ten firm again within ten years. Brian Hogan, president of Fidelity’s equity group, hopes performance will speak for itself.

“If we generate consistent performance we will see the flows,” Hogan told BusinessWeek. 

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