European equity ETFs saw record inflows in 2015, according to Morningstar data. However, it has now turned out ETF investors only joined the party once the happy hour was over. Investors who put their money into a MSCI Europe ETF a year ago are now having to cope with a loss of 12.4%.
Between 5 and 15% of active Ucits equity funds could be index huggers, the European financial services regulator Esma has concluded after it analysed the performance of a set of 2600 of such funds compared to their benchmarks, for the period 2012-2014. This is strong enough evidence for the regulator to take further action, said…
In 2015, emerging market equity ETPs had outflows for the third consecutive year, while global ETPs had record high inflows, according to a Blackrock report.
Index-tracking products continued to rise in popularity in 2015. According to data collated by research consultancy ETFGI, ETFs listed in Europe gathered a record amount of new assets in 2015.
US equity funds have a hard time in beating their peers on a sustained basis. Only 4.28% of 678 US equity funds analysed by S&P managed to consistently finish in the top-quartile during three consecutive one-year periods from September 2012 to September 2015. So no wonder investors prefer the passive option…
US funds giant BlackRock said its iShares business had seen $130bn of new inflows during 2015 as strong retail and institutional demand drove the global exchange traded funds (ETFs) to post a record annual increase of $347bn.
Active managers are under fire from all sides. Regulators in the Nordic countries are leading the attack on closet trackers, and cheaper ETFs are eating market share. Fund selectors are looking on this favourably, though the asset management example is not followed by the wholesale sector in every European country.
Smart beta strategies are quickly growing in popularity, according to research commissioned by Invesco Powershares among 400 investors in Europe. However, overall portfolio allocation remains modest and the ways investors use non-market cap weighted index products varies widely across Europe.
ETFs have been very quickly establishing themselves as the preferred investment vehicle for government bond investors over the past few months, an analysis of Morningstar fund flows data shows.
Three-fifths of European institutional investors expect the rise of passive investment vehicles to have a negative impact on shareholder engagement, reported the latest paper in the Hermes Investment Management Responsible Capitalism survey.
Investors in the Netherlands have become enthusiastic users of index trackers over the past years. But institutional investors in the country are leading the way into a new trend – factor investing.
The pace of inflows into index-trackers shows no sign of abating. With still three months to go this year, ETFs listed in Europe have already surpassed the previous inflows record set in 2014.
