Europe-listed exchange-traded products gathered $5.3 billion in May 2014, the eleventh consecutive month with positive flows, according to the latest ETP Landscape Report from BlackRock, the parent of iShares.

Ursula Marchioni, Head of ETP Research and Equity Strategy for iShares EMEA.

Year-to-date, Europe-listed ETPs have gathered $25.8 billion, surpassing 2013 YTD regional total inflows of $19.4 billion.

Ursula Marchioni, Head of ETP Research and Equity Strategy for iShares EMEA, said: “The European ETP industry has witnessed a strong start to the year, with $25.8 billion inflows in the first five months. With this blistering pace of asset gathering, and the broad economic recovery across Europe, the European ETP industry looks set for a blockbuster year with the potential to reach $50 billion inflows by the end of the year and $500 billion in total assets under management by early 2015.”

Global ETPs flows reached $20.8 billion in May, with a shift toward fixed income as investors simultaneously sought out high quality/lower risk exposures and continued to reach for higher yields.

According to Marchioni: “May has been another strong month for fixed income ETPs, after the record $19.7 billion inflows in February this year. Fixed Income ETPs listed globally gathered $14.1 billion in May and more than $40 billion YTD – a record pace for fixed income ETPs.”

She added: “Globally, fixed income ETP assets now surpass $400 billion, a milestone for ETF adoption in fixed income instruments. The growth has been broad-based and we have seen innovations propelling asset gathering in all exposures in this asset class. The speed of growth has been particularly strong since the financial crisis as central banks put monetary stimulus into place.”