Assets invested in European listed ETFs and ETPs are on course to surpass $500 billion having reached a new record high of $494 billion at the end of February 2015.

European ETF assets (including ETPs) reached a record high of $494 billion at the end of February 2015.

According to data from industry consultants ETFGI, ETFs/ETPs listed in Europe saw net inflows of $12.49 billion in February, the second highest month of net new assets on record, after a record $14.25 billion of net inflows the previous month (January 2015).

Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $6.73 billion, followed by fixed income ETFs/ETPs with $4.08 billion and commodity ETFs/ETPs with $1.17 billion in net inflows.

iShares , the ETF platform of asset management giant BlackRock, gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in February with $5.67 billion, followed by Lyxor Asset Management with $2.03 billion and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management with $1.35 billion.

Year to date iShares has gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows with $11.52 billion, followed by Lyxor with $3.33 billion and UBS with $2.89 billion.

The European ETF/ETP industry now has 2,109 ETFs/ETPs, with 6,420 listings, from 50 providers listed on 26 exchanges in 21 countries.

The top 100 ETFs/ETPs account for 55.9% of European ETF/ETP assets. Only 114 ETFs/ETPs have greater than $1 billion in assets, while 1,486 ETFs/ETPs have less than $100 million in assets.

Commenting on the flows, Deborah Fuhr, managing partner of ETFGI, said: “Investors allocated the majority of net new assets to equities as the US market rebounded from a difficult January to end February with both the S&P 500 and the Dow up 6% for the month. Volatility declined during the month. Developed markets were up 6% for the month, while emerging and frontier markets were up 3%”.