Similar to how the richest one per cent owns half of the world's wealth, leading asset managers dominate when it comes to assets under management. Only six issuers appear in the list of top 20 largest ETFs in AUM, according to Killik and Co's 2018 Q4 report. Out of those six, three issuers only appear once on the list.
Reporting on the London Stock Exchange's ETF data for 2018, the 20 largest ETFs had a cumulative AUM in excess of £119bn (only including the GBP hedged version of the ETFs). The ETF issuers which comprised the list include BlackRock's iShares, Vanguard, Lyxor, ETFS, Amundi and Xtrackers. From the £119bn total in AUM, iShares accounts for 63 per cent of the figure.
The largest ETF in terms of AUM is the iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (GSPX) by a significant margin. With over £23.6bn in AUM, the nearest competitor is the Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF (VUSA) with £16.8bn.
Whilst the list is primarily comprised of S&P 500, FTSE 100 and Euro Stoxx 50 ETFs, there are several stand alone products in the list. This includes the ETFS Physical Gold (PHGP), an ETC with £5.3bn in AUM. Gold ETPs showed significantly positive returns for 2018 but have struggled in the first few weeks of 2019.
In the bond asset class, iShares Core EUR Corp Bond UCITS ETF (IEAH) is the largest fixed income ETF, having just shy of £7bn in AUM. Shortly behind is the iShares JP Morgan EM Local Government Bond UCITS ETF (SEML) and the iShares J.P. Morgan USD EM Bond UCITS ETF (EMHG) with £5.6bn and £5.5bn, respectively.
LSX's 20 largest ETFs
Name AUM(£m)
(GSPX) ETF iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF 23,681
(CSP1) ETF iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF 23,680
(VUSA) ETF Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF 16,811
(IWDG) ETF iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF 12,389
(SWDA) ETF iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF 12,388
(EMIM) ETF iShares Core MSCI EM IMI UCITS ETF 9,022
(IEAH) ETF iShares Core EUR Corp Bond UCITS ETF 6,920
(IEBC) ETF iShares Core EUR Corp Bond UCITS ETF 6,920
(SP5L) ETF Lyxor S&P 500 UCITS ETF 6,902
(LSPX) ETF Lyxor S&P 500 UCITS ETF 6,899
(IUSA) ETF iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF 6,216
(SEML) ETF iShares JP Morgan EM Local Government Bond UCITS ETF 5,627
(ISF) ETF iShares Core FTSE 100 UCITS ETF 5,603
(EMHG) ETF iShares J.P. Morgan USD EM Bond UCITS ETF 5,539
(SEMB) ETF iShares J.P. Morgan USD EM Bond UCITS ETF 5,539
(PHGP) ETC ETFS Physical Gold Physical 5,316
(MSEX) ETF Lyxor EURO STOXX 50 DR UCITS ETF 5,214
(AUEG) ETF Amundi Msci Emerging Markets UCITS ETF 4,902
(XESC) ETF Xtrackers Euro Stoxx 50 UCITS ETF 4,863
(XESX) ETF Xtrackers Euro Stoxx 50 UCITS ETF 4,863
