The value of global exchange-traded products now exceeds $2 trillion, according to BlackRock. The firm reports that the ETP market had a record-breaking year in 2012, attracting $262.7 billion in assets globally and growing by 27 per cent. This momentum has carried into 2013 and the industry reached $2 trillion in assets under management on January 18.

Increased investment in ETPs is being seen in all major regions, as a broad spectrum of investors are using them to access asset classes in a cost-efficient way, whatever the market conditions. At an asset-class level, fixed income ETPs and emerging market equity ETPs set new records for their categories in 2012, recording net inflows of $70.0 billion and $54.8 billion respectively.

“The dynamics of the ETP market are changing ... As ETPs become better known and understood in different regions and amongst different types of investors, uptake is fast increasing. Added to this, ETP providers are expanding and deepening their coverage of different asset classes and regions,” Dodd Kittsley, global head of ETP research for BlackRock, said in a statement.

According to BlackRock it took the ETP industry 19 years to reach $1 trillion in AuM and only a further four years to double this.