Articles

What does 2012 hold for the European ETF industry?



Rebalancing Act

2011 was a good year overall for the ETF industry. Amid challenging market conditions the global ETF industry grew by 3.2%. Comparing this to prior year growth rates, often over 30%, could provide an unfavorable picture and be per- ceived as a slowing down of the industry. However, this observation on the sur- face masks the fall in asset prices over the year, which contributed a decline of 9.3% to global ETF assets.

Some of the most positive news came from the fact that new money flowing into the global ETF industry [cash flows] for 2011 totalled $163.8 billion. This was marginally higher than the prior year’s [$162.3 billion] cash flows, when the industry had grown by 27.4%. Market prices shaved off an average of 9.3% of global ETF asset levels over the 2011, but investors interest, as expressed by new money, outpaced asset price falls and contributing 12.5%, making it a positive year for ETFs.


Upcoming Events

31st May 2012
SIX - ConventionPoint, Zurich

PIP Investor Zurich


For the 5th consecutive year the PIP Investor Zurich Conference 2012 will feature contributions from senior investment specialists and major allocators, analysing current behaviour across financial markets. As downgrades and politics continue to implicate the growing concerns in Europe, we evaluate to what extent will the impact of inflationary pressure have on global bond and commodity portfolios?

With unprecedented volatility in equity markets, are traditional investment techniques still appropriate for institutional investors and does diversifying a portfolio really work in today’s financial markets? Our experts will evaluate whether the Swiss franc is likely to get stronger and what lessons have hedge fund managers learnt from the previous crisis? All this and more from this year’s PIP Investor Zurich conference.
Alongside the main conference will feature a host of interactive workshops, dedicated exclusively to a number of timely investment strategies across a series of asset classes.

25th September
SIX - ConventionPoint, Zurich

Zurich ETF Seminar


Global ETPs delivered total AUM growth of $191.1bn so far in 2012 driven by $66.0bn of inflows and $125.1bn of favourable market and exchange rate movements. Fixed income was the top asset gathering category for the year with $25.5bn or 39% of total net new assets. North America Equity attracted $21.6bn YTD or 33% of total ETP inflows. Europe equity ETPs relinquished ($5.9bn) YTD concentrated in April outflows from German DAX products.*

This ETF seminar will provide a dedicated and educational platform, offering professionals a concise and timely insight into the latest themes and topics concerning the ETF landscape.

As the industry continues to evolve, professional investors are challenged with new themes concerning the ETF landscape. The seminar will elaborate on topics concerning ETF product innovation, optimum strategies for portfolio implementation, due diligence of ETPs, as well as looking at regulatory developments by ESMA.