With the European Central Bank cutting rates, assets invested in exchange traded funds (ETFs) and exchange traded products (ETPs) listed in Europe continue to grow, reaching a new record high of US$522 billion at the end of Q1 2016.
That’s according to preliminary data from ETFGI’s March 2016 global ETF and ETP industry insights report.
According to the data, ETFs/ETPs listed in Europe gathered net inflows of US$5.11 billion in March – that marks the 18th consecutive month of net inflows.
The European ETF/ETP industry had 2,207 ETFs/ETPs, with 6,895 listings, assets of US$522 billion, from 52 providers listed on 25 exchanges in 21 countries at the end of Q1.
[related_stories]Deborah Fuhr, managing partner at ETFGI, said emerging markets and developed ex-U.S. markets also had a strong March ending up 12.5% and 7.2% respectively.
She added U.S. equities rebounded in March ending the month up 7%.
“Based on comments from the Fed there is a growing belief that interest rates will be held lower for longer than previously anticipated,” she said. “The European Central Bank cut rates and announced additional stimulus will begin in April, accelerating the rate of bond purchases from 60 to 80 billion euros per month.”
In March 2016, fixed income ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with US$6.18 billion, followed by commodity ETFs/ETPs with US$1.10 billion, while equity ETFs/ETPs experienced net outflows of US$2.29 billion.
Here are other keys highlights:
– YTD net inflows into Commodity ETFs/ETPs have been US$4.49 billion which is a record high. The previous record was $2.01 billion in Q1 2012.
– iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in March with US$4.55 billion, followed by Source with US$647 Mn and Amundi ETF with US$559 Mn in net inflows.
– YTD, iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows YTD with US$6.11 billion, followed by ETF Securities with US$2.11 billion and SPDR ETFs with US$856 million in net inflows.
– MSCI has the largest amount of ETF/ETP assets tracking its benchmarks with 22.3% market share; STOXX is second with 20.4% market share, followed by S&P Dow Jones with 12.4% market share.
– In March 2016, 19 new ETFs/ETPs were launched by five providers; 10 ETFs/ETPs were closed.