April 03, 2008 at 10:00 am by Tom Lydon
While most of our coverage centers on exchange traded funds (ETFs) listed in the United States, we realize that they aren’t just a U.S. phenomenon. We might have the largest market for them, but Europe, Asia and Latin America all boast fast-growing ETF industries of their own.
At the end of 2007, the European ETF market had amassed assets of $128.4 billion in 423 funds, reports Paul Amery for Index Universe.
iShares is the leading ETF provider in both here and in Europe, while State Street Global Advisors is the second-largest provider in the United States. The lack of similarity of product providers within the two markets is interesting, but as time goes on there will be more overlaps.
As for asset class, fixed income has almost three times the amount in fixed income that Americans do, thanks to Europeans’ historical preference for bonds. Both markets have a strong domestic bias, but the European equity sector is less interested in overseas investing than the United States is.
More than half of the ETFs in the United States are held by retail investors; in Europe, it’s closer to one-third, but data backing up this figure isn’t easy to find.
Europe has special challenges, thanks to differences between the countries. Most of them might be using the same currency, but their cultures and legal systems are not the same. It’s also typical to have ETFs cross-listed between exchanges, since each country generally has its own. Often, you’ll see primary listings, then secondary ones.
In a country-by-country breakdown, Germany has the largest number of primary listings: 157. It’s followed by France (119), United Kingdom (84), Switzerland (21) and Italy (6).
Tags | Europe, EWG, EWI, EWL, EWQ, EWU, France, Germany, GUR, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom
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April 4th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Dear Mr. Lydon,
Refering to your country-by-country breakdown:
Amsterdam (The Netherlands) has over 80 ETF’s listed.
How reliable is the rest of your article?
Rene
April 7th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Hi Rene,
The list in the post refers strictly to primary ETF listings in Europe. The exchanges there have a number of secondary listings, as well. A breakdown of those can be found in the article linked. We’re always looking for new sources and information on ETFs, so if you come across anything, please feel free to pass it along.
Thanks for your comment!
Tom