Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed in Europe have gathered 13% more assets year-to-date than in any prior year, according to data from ETF industry consultants ETFGI. A record $48.4bn in net new assets were gathered by ETFs in Europe in the first seven months of 2015, well ahead of the prior record of $42.9bn set in 2014.

European ETFs gathered over $48bn in net new assets in the first seven months of 2015.

“Although investors faced uncertainty in China and Greece during July they continued to invest significant net new assets in equity ETFs”, said Deborah Fuhr, managing partner of ETFGI.

Over the course of July, European ETFs gathered net inflows of $8.4bn. Equity ETFs continued to see the largest inflows, posting $6.9bn of net new assets, fixed income ETFs saw $2.1bn of assets flow in, while commodity ETFs experienced net outflows of $1.1bn.

Of the $48.4bn in net assets that have flowed into ETFs so far this year, equity ETFs gathered the largest net inflows at $27.2 bn, followed by fixed income ETFs with $17.5bn, and commodity ETFs with $684m.

iShares, the world’s largest provider of ETFs and a division of investment giant BlackRock, was the largest beneficiary of net new assets in Europe, with $4.1bn of net inflows in July bringing their year-to-date (YTD) total to $18.5bn. Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management’s db x-trackers range of ETFs followed with $1.6bn in new assets; YTD they have seen $7.3bn of net investment in their funds. Lyxor, a division of Societe General, occupied third place with $1.0bn gathered in July and $7.1bn YTD.

The global story is much the same, with a record $199bn gathered in the first seven months of 2015; 21% higher than the prior record of $164bn set in 2014. In the United States, ETFs gathered net inflows of $125bn, beating the previous record of $116bn set in 2013. ETFs listed in Japan have gathered $24bn which is significantly higher than the $15bn seen in the first seven months of 2014.

At the end of July 2015, the European ETF/ETP industry had 2,135 ETFs/ETPs, with 6,534 listings, assets of $504bn, from 50 providers listed on 25 exchanges in 21 countries.