ESG Pushes Global ETF Industry to $8 Trillion
- Global ETF assets reach $8 Trillion as US ETF flows surge nearly 50%
- ESG ETF assets rise 9% over February to reach the 11th consecutive monthly high
- 7th consecutive record month for ESG ETF Flows – $19 Billion added
- Investors Dump Gold, Buy Bitcoin
February data from TrackInsight, the world’s first global Exchange-Traded Funds analysis platform, shows that ETFs continued their seemingly unstoppable growth trajectory to reach a new global high of $8 Trillion, in AuM, driven by exploding flows in North American markets and huge investor appetite for ESG products.
Contributing to this important milestone were ETFs listed in North America which witnessed historic flows of $95 Billion over February, an almost 50% increase month-on-month. There are now 3,200 ETFs listed on North American exchanges with $5.9 Billion in AuM.
ESG ETFs, which nearly tripled assets in 2020, saw flows of $19 Billion (9%) over February to reach a new high of $210 Billion in AuM, making February the largest single-month in history in terms of ESG ETF flows.
Chart: ESG ETF Flows & AuM: Jan 2019 – Feb 2021
Investments. During the month, Bitcoin ETFs saw record-shattering growth with nearly $1/4 Billion in new flows. $4.5 Billion of assets now track Bitcoin through an ETF- a small but growing portion of its $1 Trillion market capitalization.
In contrast, Gold ETFs lost their lustre over February as flows went negative, losing $5 Billion for a total of $186 Billion of AuM.
Cannabis ETFs continued to dominate performance with 7 of the top 10 best-performing funds of the year targeting this nascent sector.
Table: Top Performing ETFs 2021 (to February)
Anaelle Ubaldino, Head of ETF Research and Investment Advisory at TrackInsight said: “The flexibility of the ETF wrapper means that an ever-increasing range of ideas, from actively managed strategies to ESG and thematic investments like disruptive tech and Bitcoin, are now easily available to all investors, and many are taking the opportunity to gain exposure to asset classes and strategies that were previously unavailable to them.
However, the proliferation of choices, not just in areas like ESG or Bitcoin, but across ETFs in general means investors are faced with a paradox of choice. So investors must do their homework and look beyond the headlines and media hype when picking an ETF as products that are similar on the surface may be very different when you look under the hood.”
TrackInsight operates a unique global platform dedicated to ETF search, analysis and selection aimed at professional investors and is recognized as the leading source of independent and reliable information on over 6,800 Exchange Traded Funds listed globally. In 2021, TrackInsight launched ESG Observatory to provide data, research and transparency on the global market for ESG ETFs.
All data referenced in this release is in USD and sourced from TrackInsight as of 26/02/2021. ESG data from TrackInsight ESG Observatory as of 26/02/2021.
