Assets invested in ETFs and ETPs (hereafter ETFs) listed globally have returned back above the $5 trillion mark, as of 31 May 2018, according to ETF industry consultant ETFGI.
Global ETF/ETP AUM back above $5 trillion mark
The firm’s May 2018 Global ETF and ETP industry insights report showed ETFs globally held $5.004tn in assets under management at the end of May—a 0.71% ($35.15 billion) increase from the $4.969tn held at the end of April.
The industry first broke through the landmark towards the end of January this year, but outflows and weaker stock markets meant global ETF assets under management dropped back below the $5tn mark.
ETFs globally collected $50 billion in net inflows during May. This figure was the highest since January 2018, which saw $105.75bn of net inflows, and represents the 52nd consecutive month of net inflows.
Source: ETFGI.
The majority of these flows can be attributed to the top 20 ETFs by net new assets, which collectively gathered $990bn over the month. BlackRock’s iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA US) took the lion’s share of net inflows with $17.1bn.
IEFA tracks the MSCI EAFE Investable Market Index—a broad, globally diversified equity index composed of large-, mid- and small cap stocks from developed markets excluding the US and Canada. The ETF has a total expense ratio of just 0.08%.
Source: ETFGI.
Similarly, the top ten ETPs by net new assets collectively gathered $9.18bn year-to-date during 2018, with four these being gold ETPs.
The ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (SVXY US) attracted over $1.2bn in net inflows over this period. SVXY essentially provides inverse exposure to the volatility of large-cap US equities as represented by the VIX index.
Source: ETFGI
Equity ETFs gathered more than half of the total ETF inflows ($30.9bn) during May, bringing net inflows for 2018 to $148.1bn, which is less than the $199.5bn in net inflows at this point last year. Fixed Income ETFs gathered net inflows of $5.4bn in May, growing net inflows for 2018 to $38.9bn, which is also less than the $65.8bn in net inflows at this point in 2017.
At the end of May 2018, the Global ETF industry had 7,430 ETFs across 14,140 listings.