DWS had the strongest year across all ETF issuers in 2023, ahead of BlackRock and JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM), according to new rankings published by ETF Stream.
The research, titled ETF Issuer Power Rankings 2023, found the German asset manager had the strongest year of all ETF issuers in Europe when measured across four metrics; ‘asset gathering’, ‘revenue’, ‘activity’ and ‘theme momentum’.
ETF Stream’s ETF Issuer Power Rankings is a data-driven assessment of the top 25 ETF issuers in Europe and their performance during the previous calendar year.
Using a proprietary methodology, the rankings assess which asset managers displayed the strongest momentum on a relative and absolute basis versus their competitors over the 12 months.
In total, four broad metrics are considered that ETF Stream believes most effectively captures an ETF issuer’s performance over the 12-month period:
Asset gathering – absolute and relative flows in 2023
Revenue – absolute revenues from fees and revenue per ETF
Activity – the number of ETP launches and Europe firsts
Theme momentum – absolute flows across nine asset classes; equities, fixed income, commodities, ESG, emerging markets, thematics, sectors, actives and factors
DWS scored the highest on ‘activity’ and ‘theme presence’ in 2023 after capturing $22.5bn inflows and launching 46 new ETFs over the 12 months.
BlackRock, which has a 43.9% share of the European ETF market, came second after a strong year from a revenue-generating perspective, in particular.
The world’s largest asset manager saw $71bn net new assets into European-listed ETFs in 2023 amid increased investor demand for fixed income ETFs.
Overall, DWS was more active in the market than BlackRock, launching the most ETPs last year and enjoying stronger relative inflows.
Rounding off the top three ETF issuers was JPMAM which had a particularly strong year in ‘asset gathering’ following a spike in demand for active ETFs, a big growth area for the European market.
The US giant saw $5.7bn net new assets last year, cementing its position as the dominant active ETF issuer in Europe with a 42.5% market share.
Away from the largest players, Ossiam had a standout year after strong flows into its factor ETF range drove the specialist to ninth in the rankings.
Meanwhile, new entrants AXA Investment Managers and Investlinx both made a splash in 2023 after strong inflows and launches meant they entered the top 20.
At the other end of the spectrum, UBS Asset Management and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) did not make the top 10 after a combination of outflows and low activity affected their rankings, respectively, despite ranking fifth and sixth for assets under management in Europe.
Highlighting this, the Swiss asset manager suffered $561m outflows in a year in which it acquired rival Credit Suisse Asset Management’s ETF range.
Tom Eckett, editor of ETF Stream, commented: “Choosing the right ETF issuer is a crucial consideration in the product selection process for professional investors, especially as more players enter the market.
“We hope the ETF Issuer Power Rankings provide further insights into the increasingly competitive European ETF market.”
Pawel Janus, co-founder and head of analytics at ETFbook, which provided the data for the research, added: “European ETFs have grown significantly, with increases in assets, new ETF issuers entering the market, product launches and increasing adoption by a diverse base of buy-side customers.
"In response to this expansion, ETF issuers must constantly evolve, specialise and bring their best capabilities to the fore.
"The ETF Issuer Power Rankings is a useful metric for the buy-side community in the ever-evolving European ETF market."
View the full ETF Issuer Power Rankings 2023 results here.
