Industry Updates

European ETFs: Amundi loses ground to DWS and Vanguard in Q2

European ETFs saw $59.1bn inflows in Q2

Tom Eckett

Amundi

DWS, Vanguard and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) saw strong ETF inflows in Q2 as demand for core equities remained solid.

According to data from ETFbook, investors piled $59.1bn into European-listed ETFs in the previous quarter, up from $49.4bn in Q1, as bullish sentiment for risk assets continued.

BlackRock captured $23.4bn inflows over the quarter, the most across all ETF issuers, taking its overall assets under management (AUM) to $880bn.

In particular, the iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (CSPX) saw $3.8bn inflows, the most across all European ETFs, while investors poured a combined $4.2bn into the iShares MSCI USA ESG Enhanced UCITS ETF (EEDS) and the iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF (SWDA).

DWS pulled in the second-highest ETF inflows in Q2. The German asset manager’s $7.4bn inflows drove its AUM to $217bn, a 10.5% share of the $2trn European market.

Ongoing demand for the Xtrackers EUR Overnight Rate Swap UCITS ETF (XEON), which captured $2bn inflows in Q2, was a key driver of the firm’s strong quarter.

It was also another positive three months for Vanguard which pulled in $5.9bn inflows amid strong demand for its global equity and short-duration US Treasury ETFs, in particular.

Alongside DWS, the US giant has been a standout performer this year as investor demand for core ETF exposures in Europe continues to grow.

SSGA’s decision to slash the fee on its SPDR S&P 500 UCITS ETF (SPY5) to 0.03% last October is the driver behind the asset manager’s strong performance this quarter.

The firm saw $5.5bn inflows in Q2 as SPY5 pulled in $2.5bn net new assets, the second-highest across European ETFs.

Meanwhile, Amundi continued to struggle versus its rivals following the acquisition of Lyxor. Europe’s largest asset manager saw $4.9bn inflows in Q2, driving its AUM to $254bn.

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

Across the smaller players in the market, VanEck was a standout performer, with $1.1bn inflows over the quarter.

The US asset manager crossed the $10bn AUM milestone in European ETFs in May, a significant moment for the firm which launched its first ETFs in 2015 before acquiring ThinkETF in January 2018.

At the other end of the spectrum, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) continued its torrid start to the year, with $1.2bn outflows, the most across all European ETF issuers.

The UK asset manager has struggled from waning demand for ESG this year as investors pulled $1.2bn from its L&G US ESG Exclusions Paris Aligned UCITS ETF (RIUS) over the quarter.

WisdomTree also had a challenging quarter amid waning demand for commodity ETPs. The specialist saw $790m outflows amid significant outflows from its copper and physical silver ETCs.

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