15 years ago, on April 11, 2000, the first ETFs were listed in Europe: the LDRs DJ STOXX 50 and the LDRs DJ Euro STOXX 50 were listed on the Deutsche Boerse, sponsored by Merrill Lynch International. iShares acquired these ETFs in September 2003 and rebranded them the iShares DJ STOXX 50 (EUN1 GY) and the iShares DJ Euro STOXX 50 (EUN2 GY). A few weeks later on April 28th, 2000 the iShares FTSE 100 (ISF LN) was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Record levels of net new assets (NNA) have been reached in Q1 by ETFs/ETPs listed in Europe, gathering US$34.97 billion, a significant increase on the US$11.17 billion gathered in Q1 2014. Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows YTD with US$18.22 Bn, followed by fixed income ETFs/ETPs with US$13.43 Bn, and commodity ETFs/ETPs with US$1.70 Bn in net inflows.
“With the ECB beginning QE investors have allocated the majority of net new assets to European equities. Developed markets were up 4% and emerging markets were up 2% Q1 while the US had a turbulent first quarter with the S&P 500 ending Q1 up 1%” according to Deborah Fuhr, managing partner of ETFGI.
At the end of Q1 2015 the European ETF/ETP industry had 2,105 ETFs/ETPs, with 6,414 listings, assets of US$492 Bn, from 50 providers on 26 exchanges.
iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows YTD with US$15.13 Bn, followed by Lyxor AM with US$5.38 Bn, db x trackers/db ETC with US$4.51 Bn and UBS ETFs with US$ 798 Mn in net inflows.
MSCI has the largest amount of ETF/ETP assets tracking its benchmarks with US$119 Bn, reflecting 24.3% market share; STOXX is second with US$105 Bn and 21.3% market share, followed by S&P Dow Jones with US$60 Bn and 12.3% market share.