Global exchange-traded product (ETP) funds under management slopped over the US$4 trillion level in April as the passive products du jour continue their ascent.
Figures from consultancy firm ETFGI show record monthly net inflows of almost US$38 billion in April – the 39th consecutive month of positive flows in the listed index product sector – took the market above US$4 trillion for the first time.
“Year to date, a record US$235.21 billion in net new assets have been gathered. At this point last year there were net inflows of US$81.01 billion,” ETFGI says in a release.
According to ETFGI, as at the end of April this year, some 6,835 ETPs from 313 providers reported 12,892 listings spread across 68 exchanges and 56 countries,
The ETFGI data shows exchange-traded funds (ETFs) – the largest ETP subsector – represented about US$3.8 trillion and 5,000 products of the overall market.
US-domiciled assets accounted for more than half of the overall ETP investments, with the 2,011 products listed there reaching almost US$2.9 trillion in April on net funds flows of more than US$36 billion – another monthly record.
Deborah Fuhr, ETFGI founder, said: “Investors continued to favour equities over fixed income and commodities as equity markets performed positively in April.”
The BlackRock-owned iShares maintained its ETP market dominance with total assets under management of about US$1.4 trillion, almost double that of second-largest provider, Vanguard. According to the ETFGI research, iShares manages 36.6 per cent of the global ETP market followed by Vanguard (18.4 per cent) and State Street (14.6 per cent).
During April iShares added a further US$23.94 billion of inflows as nearest rival Vanguard topped US$10 billion and Schwab took bronze for the month with net flows of US$2.35 billion.
Over the year-to-date, iShares was again the net winner (US$89.3 billion), shadowed by Vanguard (US$53.1 billion) and Nomura Asset Management (US$10.23 billion).
Fuhr, previously BlackRock global head of ETF research and implementation strategy, launched ETFGI as an independent consulting and research business in 2012.