ETFs, Products Break Above $9 Trillion AuM Mark

Editorial Staff

18 June 2021

Exchange traded funds and products held $9.1 trillion at the end of May 2021, driven by year-to-date net inflows of $559.48 billion. That inflow beat the prior record of $229.34 billion gathered at this point last year, according to , a firm monitoring these index-tracking entities.

Assets invested in the global ETFs and ETPs industry increased by 2.8 per cent from $8.96 trillion at the end of April 2021.

The ETF and related sectors have boomed over the past decade, benefitting from investor disenchantment with higher-fee actively-managed funds and a bull market in equities that took hold in 2009.

ETFs are typically open-ended, index-based funds, with active ETFs accounting for 1.1 per cent of the market share. ETPs, on the other hand, are similar to ETFs in the way that they trade and settle, but do not use an open-end fund structure.

“The S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent in May and 12.62 per cent year-to-date, with positive figures for four consecutive months. Developed markets ex-US gained 3.11 per cent in May. Austria 8.29 per cent and Luxembourg 8.12 per cent were the leaders for the month while New Zealand lost the most at 3.92 per cent,” Deborah Fuhr, managing partner, founder and owner of ETFGI, said.

“Emerging markets were up 2.58 per cent at the end of May. Hungary (up 15.54 per cent) and Poland (up 13.98 per cent) were the leaders, whilst Egypt (down 3.86 per cent), Chile (down 3.64 per cent), and Malaysia (down 2.79 [per cent) were down the most,” she added.

Equity ETFs/ETPs listed globally gathered net inflows of $63.06 billion in May, bringing net inflows for 2021 to $396.94 billion, which is much greater than the $72.91 billion in net inflows equity products attracted year-to-date in 2020. Fixed Income ETFs/ETPs listed globally reported net inflows of $20.66 billion during May, bringing net inflows for 2021 to $85.69 billion, higher than the $65.86 billion in net inflows fixed income products attracted year-to-date in 2020.