Europe’s exchange traded products business, which is largely dominated by three issuers, could rise to $1 trillion in combined assets under management by the end of this year.
Europe-listed ETFs pulled in $32 billion in the first six months of the year, less than half the $74 billion gained by their U.S. counterparts, but that “growth rate that would take total assets to more than half a trillion dollars by year-end if it persists,” according to Funds Europe.
“So far this year, equity ETPs accounted for $18.5 billion of the net flows in Europe, compared with $12.3 billion for fixed income products and a net outflow of $427 million for commodity products,” Funds Europe reported.
BlackRock’s (NYSE: BLK) iShares, Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) and Societe Generale’s Lyxor are the dominate ETF issuers in Europe.
“In June investors invested almost all net new money into equity exposures with the US and emerging markets being the preferred allocations. The S&P 500 index ended up 7% at the end of Q2 2014, closing at an all-time high (1963) on June 20th. Internationally, developed markets gained 2% and emerging markets are up 4%. The positive equity market performance has helped to improve investor confidence during the first half of 2014.” according to Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at ETFGI.
As of the end of June, Europe was home to nearly 1,440 ETFs and almost 2,060 exchange traded products from 50 providers, according to ETFGI data. The total number of Europe-listed ETPs has more than quadrupled since 2007.