According to the report on the ETF activities over the first half of 2011, 12 providers launched ETFs for the first time while a further 41 have indicated intentions to do so later this year.
In total there are now 146 ETF providers in operation globally, but the 14.2% combined market share of 143 of them is dwarfed by that of iShares, State Street and Vanguard.
June alone saw an additional 80 individual ETF launches, increasing the number available to investors by 2.8%, Blackrock says. Year to date, the number of available ETFs has risen by 14.8% with 393 launches, eight de-listing and 20 mergers. “There are currently plans to launch 1,037 new ETFs compared to 957 at the end of first half of 2010,” the report reads.
Landscape goes on to highlight that despite the 1.7% drop in MSCI World index, in dollar terms, between May and June ETF assets only fell by 0.3%. Globally, net sales of ETF/ETPs are fast approaching those of mutual funds, at $66.5bn versus global fund sales of $67.2bn YTD ending 30 April.
In June $13.7bn of net new assets went into ETFs/ETPs, $9bn of which went towards equities. Of that, $3.2bn was invested with those vehicles providing developing market exposure.
Commodities didn’t fare quite so well that month with ETF/ETPs exposure to this area experiencing net outflows of $0.2bn. Although investors favoured vehicles offering exposure to precious metals, their inflows were offset by the pull back in broader commodities interest.
