Global ETF, ETP Assets Reach New High At Year End

Sally Ling

8 January 2013

Assets invested in exchange traded funds and exchange traded products hit an all-time high of $1.95 trillion at the end of 2012. ETF and ETP assets increased by 27.6 per cent during the year, from $1.53 trillion to $1.95 trillion, according to figures from UK-based research company ETFGI.

At $265.3 billion, 2012 net inflows into ETFs and ETPs were up by 55.9 per cent on 2011. Equity ETFs and ETPs gathered the largest net inflows, accounting for $167.3 billion. The most popular equity products were those providing exposure to the US/North America, receiving $78.3 billion, followed by emerging market equities with $54.3 billion. Fixed income attracted $62.9 billion net inflows and commodities $23.1 billion.

ETFGI reports that the top three providers account for 68.9 per cent of global ETF/ETP assets, while the remaining 205 providers each have less than 4 per cent of market share. During 2012, these top three providers accounted for 67.6 per cent of all net new assets.

“The uncertain and challenging market conditions investors have faced during 2012 and over the past few years, combined with the difficulty in finding active managers that consistently deliver alpha, have caused more … investors to embrace the use of ETFs and ETPs for strategic and tactical asset allocations,” Deborah Fuhr, managing partner at ETFGI, said in a statement.

ETFGI analyses over 4,700 ETFs and ETPs, across 9,500 exchange listings from 208 providers on 50 stock exchanges.