Active funds enjoy growth

Research from Morningstar this week found that actively managed ETFs’ share of the US ETF market rose to 8.5 per cent at the end of March 2024, while actively managed mutual funds racked up significant outflows. The European data was equally compelling with Monika Calay, Director of Manager Research, Morningstar, noting that equity active ETFs have gained significant momentum over the past two years, aggregating over EUR20 billion. "Traditionally, most active managers were reluctant to disclose their ‘secret sauce’ by revealing their holdings daily, as required by ETF regulations," she says. "However, some fund companies are embracing ETFs as an additional distribution vehicle for their strategies."

The news last week that global ETF assets have hit a record high of USD12.71 billion and this week saw both Invesco and LSEG Lipper commenting on the recent boost to assets. A webinar this week from Calastone found Robert Rushe, Global Product Head, HSBC, saying that, as certain as death and taxes, ETF growth will continue. Marc Knowles, senior ETF adviser at Calastone, reported that European ETF asset growth over the last five years has seen a 20 per cent compounded annual growth rate.

One of the key growth areas for ETPs over past years has been cryptocurrency-based product and this week Fiona Nicolson interviewed Kristen Mierzwa, head of digital assets at FTSE Russell’s IIG, about their product development in the crypto space with Grayscale and HashKey Capital. Mierzwa says: "One of the things that we’re focused on developing at the moment is the reward that holders of proof-of-stake digital assets can receive, if they’re participating in a staking pool. It’s not quite a dividend payment, nor is it a bond yield, but it does help them to earn something on top of the capital appreciation of the holding."

This week saw a huge range of launches across our three launches columns, brought to you by Stoxx, covering the US, Canada and global, non-North American, ETF launches. Take a look at the entries now and marvel at the range of products that are coming to market across the world.

We have also reinstated our Trackinsight top and bottom performing ETFs’ column on a weekly basis. While weekly data offers just a snapshot of global ETF performance, it does throw up fascinating facts, such as, ETFs based on tin are top performers in this week’s entry.

Voting is still open for Canadian ETF issuers and service providers in this year’s ETF awards. Vote now, following this link.

Beverly Chandler, Managing Editor

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