We have witnessed the phenomenal growth of U.S.-listed exchange traded funds as the industry gathers over $1.4 trillion in assets under management. The growth story, though, is not limited to the U.S. markets.
According to the Edhec-Risk Institute, 67% of European investors expect to increase their usage of ETFs while only 4% expect to decrease their ETF exposure, reports Chris Flood for the Financial Times. Europeans are also branching out of straight equities exposure and into other asset classes, such as commodities, corporate bonds, real estate and infrastructure. [Online Broker Sees Demand for Alternative ETFs]
Additionally, the institute also found that European investors are favoring ETF investments more than competing financial instruments like futures, index funds and total return swaps. [Why Generation Y Likes ETFs]
For instance, only 28% of survey participants expected to increase usage of futures, compared to 9% indicating a decline in usage. Around 11% said they will increase usage of total return swaps, a derivative instrument traded on bilateral over-the-counter deals, while 30% expect to lessen their exposure. Lastly, 26% said they will increase exposure to index funds and 24% want to diminish usage.