Global exchange-traded fund assets rose 9.11% to a fresh record high of US$21.91 trillion last month, driven by equity and active ETFs.
The figure, which was up from $20.08 trillion in March, erased the previous peak of $21.24 trillion set in February.
UK research firm ETFGI, which released the data in a statement on May 21, says the global ETF industry attracted $218.97 billion of net inflows last month, bringing the total for January through April to a record $856.38 billion. It was the 83th consecutive month of monthly net inflows.
However, ETFGI pointed out that the industry remains highly concentrated. Although there are 1,004 ETF issuers worldwide, three US firms — BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street — control 59% of global ETF assets.
BlackRock’s iShares remains the world’s largest ETF provider with $6.06 trillion of assets under management or 27.7% of the global market. Vanguard was number two with $4.69 trillion, and State Street’s SPDR ETFs was third with $2.16 trillion.
