Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) have grown in popularity over the past 12 months, according to the latest data released by BlackRock subsidiary iShares.
Referencing the BlackRock Investment Institute’s October Exchange Traded Products (ETP) Landscape report, iShares this week pointed to the fact that year-to-date ETP flows of US$192.3 billion had surpassed 2011’s full-year total of US$173.4 billion.
As well, it pointed out investors maintained a degree of risk appetite during October, embracing both emerging market bonds and emerging market equities, which together drew in US$8.5 billion.
Commenting on the data, iShares Australian head Mark Oliver said the trend identified in the global report had been broadly echoed in Australia.
“Local ETPs are a fast-growing investment product category, having recorded more than 20 per cent growth in Australia so far this year,” he said.
Oliver claimed that, like their overseas peers, Australian investors were using ETPs strategically as well as tactically in portfolios.
“Local ETP flows have exceeded A$550 million so far in 2012, over three times that seen in the whole of 2011,” he said.
