Canadian assets in ETFs reached US$84 billion in 2016: report

Assets under management in exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products in Canada reached US$84 billion at the end of 2016, according to a new report.

The independent research and consultancy firm ETFGI’s year-end report found all globally-listed ETFs/ETPs gathered a record level of net inflows in 2016 of US$389.34 billion, surpassing the prior record of US$372.27 billion gathered in 2015.

At the end of the year, assets under management for ETFs/ETPs listed in the United States reached US$2.543 trillion. In Europe, they reached US$571 billion and in Asia Pacific ex-Japan they reached US$135 billion.

Read: Continued growth predicted as ETF industry tops $100 billion in Canada

“2016 was an eventful year with a number of unexpected outcomes – the U.K. vote for Brexit to leave the European Union and the election of Trump as the U.S. president,” said Deborah Fuhr, co-founder and managing partner at ETFGI.

“The S&P 500 gained 12 per cent while the DJIA increased 16.5 per cent for the year. All U.S. sectors performed positively for the year, with the exception of health care. The VIX declined by a dramatic 22.9 per cent. European equities ended the year up 3.44 per cent, Canadian equities ended the year strongly with the S&P/TSX Composite and the S&P/TSX 60 were up 21.1 per cent and 21.4 per cent.” 

Read: ETF industry made gains in January