Assets invested in exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products listed in Europe reached a new record high of $640 billion at the end Q1 2017, surpassing the prior record of $620 billion set at the end of February 2017, according to analysis from ETF industry consultant ETFGI.
ETFs and ETPs listed in Europe gathered net inflows of $11.4bn in March, marking the 31st month of positive net new asset flows for the region. Year to date (YTD), net inflows stand at $35.4bn, more than triple the net inflows of $11.0bn recorded by this point last year.
Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest share of net inflows in March with $6.6bn, bringing YTD flows up to $21.2bn.
ETFs/ETPs providing exposure to European equities were most in demand during March, attracting $2.3bn; ETFs/ETPs providing exposure to North American equity indices netted $2.3bn and global equity ETFs/ETPs pulled in $1.2bn. ETFs/ETPs tracking Asia Pacific equity, however, experienced net outflows of $329 million.
Fixed income ETFs/ETPs experienced net inflows of $3.0bn in March, growing YTD net inflows to $7.8bn, while commodity ETFs/ETPs accumulated net inflows of $1.3bn in March, bringing YTD net inflows to $4.7bn.
iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows during March with $3.0bn, followed by Deutsche Asset Management with $1.6bn and UBS with $1.5bn.
During Q1, iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows with $10.2bn, followed by Lyxor AM with $4.6bn and UBS with $3.8bn.
At the end of March 2017, the European ETF/ETP industry had 2,241 ETFs/ETPs, with 7,055 listings from 59 providers listed on 26 exchanges in 21 countries.