2017 iShares’ biggest expansion year
BlackRock’s iShares business expanded at its fastest pace on record in 2017, closing the year with $1.754 trillion assets under management [AUM].
BlackRock cited a breakout year for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as a core driver of its success, with surging interest from investors in ETFs as financial instruments alongside bonds and derivatives.
Australian investors turn to ETFs for their convenience, low cost and range of exposures, said Jon Howie, head of iShares Australia.
“We project the global ETF market to more than double in AUM 2022,” said Mark Wiedman, global head of iShares and index investments at BlackRock.
“Three global trends will power this growth: fee-based wealth management, networked bond and derivatives trading, and alpha-seeking usage by active fund and wealth managers,” he continued.
iShares also pointed to its international performance as a key strength in 2017, saying that they had doubled their number of fixed income clients in Asia Pacific in two years.
“The Korean and Taiwanese markets have made bigger contributions to our business over the course of this year as ETFs are increasingly used for portfolio construction across multiple applications,” said Susan Chan, head of Asia Pacific iShares.
iShares 2017 AUM included $1.33 trillion in equities and $427 billion in fixed income and commodities.
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