The European exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products sector recorded its 20th month of positive net inflows by gathering $2.68bn during May, according to ETF consultancy ETFGI. 

Year-to-date through end of May 2016, European ETFs/ETPs have seen net inflows of $17.32bn, according to ETF industry consultant ETFGI.

Fixed income ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $2.77bn, followed by commodity ETFs/ETPs with $982m, while equity ETFs/ETPs experienced net outflows of $1.20bn.

iShares was the most successful gatherer of net new assets in Europe during May with $1.40bn of net inflows, followed by SPDR ETFs with $584m and db X/db ETC with $500m.

Year-to-date (YTD) to the end of May, European ETFs/ETPs have seen net inflows of $17.32bn. This has been made up from fixed income ETFs/ETPs gathering the largest net inflows YTD with $16.14bn, followed by commodity ETFs/ETPs with $6.30bn. The figure was offset by net outflows worth $6.39bn from equity ETFs/ETPs.

iShares has gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows YTD in Europe with $10.70bn, followed by ETF Securities with $2.70bn and SPDR ETFs with $1.55bn.

Global ETF/ETP assets reached $3.14tn as of the end of May, consisting of $530bn of assets in Europe, $2.3tn in the US and $147bn in Japan.

The European ETF/ETP industry has 2,219 ETFs/ETPs, with 6,927 listings from 52 providers listed on 25 exchanges in 21 countries.

The growth of ETF assets in Europe is outlined in the graph below:

Source: ETFGI

Europe has been one of the biggest drivers of ETF/ETP flows this year. Last month  European-listed ETPs made up nearly a third of all global flows.