| ESG dominates UK ETF appetite The UK’s financial services company, Hargreaves Lansdown, has been researching its UK client base and found that its clients like both ETFs and ESG. The firm reminds us of the rapid growth of the sector, reporting that in 2003, there were only 291 ETFs around the globe on offer to investors, while today there are nearly 9,000 ETFs offering a diverse range of investment opportunities.
Across Europe, the firm writes, ESG ETFs represented 42 per cent of total European ETF flows in the three months to the end of June 2022.
From their own client base, HL reports that since January 2017, the number of HL clients holding ETFs has increased almost 80 per cent, from 5.1 per cent of the total client base to 9.1 per cent in June 2022, while the proportion of clients holding ESG ETFs has grown nearly 708 per cent, from 0.13 per cent to 1.05 per cent over the same period.
Last year was the year of crypto and ESG and this year, despite the crypto winter, things seem to be moving in the same direction. We have an interview this week with Charlie Morris of ByteTree, whose offering BOLD, with 21Shares, combines gold and bitcoin. He describes the combination of bitcoin and gold as a natural blend of non-correlating assets.
"BOLD is never strong, never weak, like Swiss equities, giving you diversification benefits," he says.
WisdomTree has been surveying investors as well, producing a report this week that found that young UK adults have not been deterred from investing in cryptocurrencies, despite the advent of the crypto winter. A survey of 1,002 adults in the UK aged between 18 and 30, conducted by Opinium, revealed the number of young British adults invested in cryptocurrencies is nearly the same as the number invested in Stocks and Shares ISAs, 27 per cent and 28 per cent respectively, suggesting a shift in how young adults are investing.
Pacer ETFs in the US always seems to have its finger on the pulse of where people are investing. We spoke with Pacer ETFs’ president, Sean O’Hara, who reports that recent market volatility has encouraged a swing towards factor investing. Pacer ETFs has continued on its asset growth path, reaching just shy of USD16 billion, with the firm’s factor series driving growth over the first part of 2022, having brought in USD450 million since January, and now representing over USD1 billion of the firm’s assets.
Finally, the Service Providers' nomination period for our ETF Express US Awards 2022 is still ongoing until the 2nd September. Please click here to nominate now.
Beverly Chandler, managing editor, ETF Express
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Companies in this issue
21Shares
BlackRock
Byte Tree Asset Management
Harbor Capital Advisors
Hargreaves Lansdown
Ossiam
Pacer ETFs
WisdomTree
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