Australian ETF industry breaks $40 billion barrier: BetaShares August 2018 Australian ETF Review

From

Alex Vynokur

Australia’s ETF industry has reached a new record high of $41.5 billion in funds under management (FUM) after an impressive month of growth, according to the BetaShares Australian ETF Review – August 2018.

August saw the industry’s FUM grow by a significant 3.7% (or $1.5b), two thirds of which was driven by asset appreciation, and the other third ($549.9m) from net new money flowing into the industry.

BetaShares CEO, Alex Vynokur, said: “It is exciting to see the ETF industry continuing its strong growth trajectory and reach yet another significant milestone.”

“Breaking the $40 billion barrier reflects the increased demand from investors and showcases the versatility of ETFs. ETFs give investors access to intelligent building blocks with which to build diversified portfolios,” added Mr Vynokur.

International Equities continued to dominate as the largest category of inflows, accounting for over $312m, followed by Fixed Income, attracting $180m in net inflows.

In line with this trend, international technology exposures were the top performers in August, with the BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK) and BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ) returning 12.7% and 8.9% respectively.

“Investors in technology exposures enjoyed very strong performance in the month of August, exemplifying one of the key benefits of ETFs – with investors able to easily access growth industries, such as cybersecurity, that have limited availability via Australian shares.”

No new products were launched during the month, with the total number of Exchange Traded Products trading on the ASX remaining at 231. However, Mr Vynokur expects this number to increase for the remainder of the year following recent new product announcements.

You must be logged in to post or view comments.