Actively managed ETFs and ETPs (hereafter ETFs) listed globally gathered $3.1 billion in net inflows during January 2018, the second largest monthly net inflow ever, according to ETF industry consultants ETFGI.
Net inflows of $3.1bn were the second largest monthly net inflows for actively managed ETFs ever recorded.
The strong net inflows – the thirty-seventh consecutive month of net inflows into actively managed ETFs – has only ever been surpassed in May 2017 when actively managed ETFs globally accumulated $3.3bn.
Assets invested in actively managed ETFs reached a new record high of $79.3bn at the end of January 2018, surpassing the previous record of $75.2bn at the end of 2017.
According to ETFGI’s data, the increase of $4.1bn represents the greatest absolute monthly increase in assets on record. The previous record was set in June 2017, when assets grew by $3.2bn.
The majority of January’s growth in assets is attributable to actively managed ETFs listed in the US, where assets increased by $2.7bn over the month. In terms of asset class, assets invested in actively managed fixed income ETFs and equity ETFs globally increased by $1.7bn each.
Fixed income ETFs gathered the largest net inflows during January with $1.5bn, followed by equity ETFs with $1.2bn and commodity ETFs with $260 million. Actively managed currency ETFs experienced net outflows of $19m.
Source: ETFGI.
Almost 75% of the global net inflows for January can be attributed to the top 20 actively managed ETFs by net new assets, which collectively gathered $2.3bn during the month. The PIMCO US Dollar Short Maturity ETF (MINT LN) led the way with net inflows of $439m.
MINT aims to generate greater income and total returns compared to money market funds, and may be appropriate for non-immediate cash allocations. It primarily invests in short duration investment grade debt securities, seeking to constrain average portfolio duration to less than one year. MINT has $3.0bn in assets under management and a total expense ratio of 0.35%.
Source: ETFGI.