European ETFs on track for second-highest annual inflows on record

European exchange traded funds enjoyed another strong month of inflows in November, putting the industry on course for at least its second-best sales year in history, according to LSEG Lipper.

ETF promoters in Europe gathered €17.8bn of net new money last month, far above the sector’s rolling 12-month average of €12bn, the research company found.

The flows picture in November was driven by equity ETFs, which garnered €11.9bn of net inflows, while bond products achieved €5.3bn of net sales. Money market and mixed asset ETFs attracted €1.4bn and €0.04bn, respectively.

Flows into alternative and commodities ETFs were negative during the month, at €0.1bn and €0.7bn, respectively, according to LSEG Lipper.

This article was previously published by Ignites Europe, a title owned by the FT Group.

Detlef Glow, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa research at LSEG Lipper, said November was “another month with strong inflows into ETFs”.

“Overall, the inflows for the year so far look like the European ETF industry will at least witness the second-best year in history, but there is also a small chance that we may witness the year with the highest inflows in ETFs in history,” he added.

ETFs enjoyed inflows of €119.7bn over the course of the first 10 months of 2023, while mutual funds faced estimated net outflows of €61bn.

“The success of ETFs is not reflected in the overall fund industry, as active managed mutual funds witness high outflows, and the gap is set to increase further,” said Glow.

BlackRock’s ETF arm iShares was the top seller of such products during the month, attracting €8.6bn of net new money. Amundi and Vanguard ranked second and third respectively, with inflows of €2.1bn and €1.8bn.

*Ignites Europe is a news service published by FT Specialist for professionals working in the asset management industry. Trials and subscriptions are available at igniteseurope.com.