BlackRock once again topped the inflow charts in the second quarter of the year, despite losing market share to DWS and Vanguard, but could it be on the precipice of a major milestone for European ETFs?
The asset management giant’s $23.4bn inflows into its iShares business over the quarter has taken its assets under management (AUM) to $880bn, according to data from ETFbook.
The group has recorded inflows of almost $39bn in the first six months of the year but has seen its assets swell from $798bn since the end of 2023, with market movements accounting for the rest.
It means another strong six months of market performance, coupled with another roughly $40bn inflows into its ETFs, could – at a stretch – see BlackRock’s AUM hit $1trn in 2024.
While possible, the European ETF market is much more likely to have to wait until next year to see its first $1trn issuer, bu certainly one o keep an eye on.
Risk-on sentiment certainly benefited BlackRock over the quarter, with investors piling into core-equity ETFs as the market rally continued.
Chart 1: Top 10 ETF issuer inflows in Europe in Q2
ETF issuer | Q2 flows (bn, $) | AUM (bn, $) |
|---|---|---|
BlackRock | 23.4 | 880 |
DWS | 7.4 | 217 |
Vanguard | 5.9 | 145 |
State Street Global Advisors | 5.5 | 84 |
Amundi | 4.9 | 254 |
Invesco | 3.5 | 96 |
JP Morgan Asset Management | 3.4 | 28.9 |
HSBC Asset Management | 2.6 | 52.9 |
BNP Paribas Asset Management | 1.6 | 29.7 |
VanEck | 1.1 | 10.7 |
Source: ETFbook
The iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (CSPX) captured the most inflows across all European-listed ETFs, with $3.8bn net new assets, while investors piled a combined $4.3bn into the SPDR S&P 500 UCITS ETF (SPY5) and the synthetic Invesco S&P 500 UCITS ETF (SPXS).
Circa5000 exits…
As big players continue to dominate, boutique thematic ETF issuer is set to exit the European ETF market after announcing the closure of all five of its ETFs.
It comes just over a year since the issuer first launched its product range and highlights the difficulty for smaller issuers entering the European ETF market.
Combined, the ETFs had around £15m of assets:
CIRCA5000 Clean Water & Waste UCITS ETF (C5KW)
CIRCA5000 Green Energy & Technology UCITS ETF (C5KG)
CIRCA5000 Health & Wellbeing UCITS ETF (C5KH)
CIRCA5000 Social & Economic Empowerment UCITS ETF (C5KE)
CIRCA5000 Sustainable Food & Biodiversity UCITS ETF (C5KF)
… As Eurizon arrives
Eurizon Capital launched its first ETF in Europe, an active emerging market bond ETF targeting UK investors.
The CO Eurizon SLJ EM Bond Strategic Income UCITS ETF (COEMU) is listed on the London Stock Exchange with a total expense ratio of 0.50%.
It launched on the Connect ETFS ICAV, registered under Carne Global Fund Managers which offers management company services.
