Overall, assets under management (AUM) in the European exchange traded fund (ETF) industry had hit €514.5bn (£438.4bn, $550bn) by 31 December 2016, up from €448.2 bn at the end of December 2015.
However, Lipper estimated net sales last year at around €40bn compared with more than €70bn in 2015 and over €45bn in 2014.
Equity demand
US equity ETFs were way ahead as the category with the most AUM at €82.1bn by the end of December 2016, almost double equity eurozone ETFs at €43bn, and more than equity global with €36.2bn, equity Europe at €29.9bn and bond EUR corporates at €27.1bn.
These five groups accounted for 42.42% of the overall assets under management in the European ETF segment.
“The net inflows into equity ETFs were remarkable, since their actively managed peers showed net outflows for the year,” said Detlef Glow, head of EMEA research at Thomson Reuters Lipper.
“The year 2016 might mark a turning point in investor behaviour with regard to passive instruments,” he said.
Although Lipper’s data shows bond ETFs were the most popular asset class in 2016 recording inflows of €19.1bn over the year.
iShares rule
BlackRock’s iShares, with net sales of €26.6bn, was the best-selling ETF promoter in Europe over the course of 2016, followed some way back by Vanguard Group with €4.3bn in sales and SPDR ETFs, offered by State Street Global Advisors, with €4.2bn of inflows.
The iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF, US dollar tranche, was the largest ETF category with €18.3bn in assets under management and the best selling indivdual ETF, adding €4.11bn for 2016.
ETFs from iShares accounted for 48.71% of the overall assets under management in the European ETF market with a total of €250.6bn, also far ahead of the number-two promoter, db x-trackers with €53.3 bn and the number-three promoter, Lyxor ETF, with €51bn.
