Assets invested in ETFs and ETPs listed in Asia Pacific ex-Japan increased by $40.2 billion (31.4%) during 2017, over triple the previous record of $12.5bn set in 2016, to reach a new high of $170.3bn at the end of December, according to ETF industry consultant ETFGI.
Assets under management in ETFs/ETPs listed in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan), as of the end of December 2017, amounted to $170.3bn.
The increase of 31.4%, from $129.6bn at the end of 2016, also represents the greatest growth in assets since 2009 when markets recovered following the 2008 financial crisis.
The region saw net inflows of just $6.5bn during the year (down 45.8% on 2016), however, with the remaining growth in AUM coming from market performance owing to benign upwards-trending capital markets.
Contrary to ETF asset flows in most other regions globally – which have in some instances chalked up several years of consecutive monthly net inflows – December 2017 marked only the second month in a row for positive organic growth for ETFs/ETPs listed in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan), with $2.7bn gathered during the month.
Equity ETFs/ETPs listed in the region saw net inflows of $4.0bn in December, taking net inflows for 2017 full-year to $5.1bn. Fixed Income ETFs and ETPs experienced net outflows of $1.4bn in December, bringing net outflows for 2017 to $1.2bn.
The top 20 ETFs by net new assets collectively gathered $11.9bn during 2017, with the Bharat 22 ETF (BHART22 IN) topping the list with $1.4bn.
The top ten ETPs (i.e. mainly commodity products) by net new assets collectively gathered $365.0 million with the ETFS Physical Gold (GOLD AU) accumulating $83m.
Source: ETFGI.