Refinitiv : European ETF Market, April 2021

These inflows occurred in a positive but volatile market environment in which investor sentiment was still impacted by the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and other parts of the world.

The positive performance of the underlying markets led in combination with the estimated net inflows to increasing assets under management (from €1,095.2 bn as of March 31, 2021, to €1,124.0 bn at the end of April).

The increase of €28.8 bn for April was driven by the estimated net sales (+€16.3 bn), while the performance of the underlying markets contributed €12.5 bn to the increase of the assets under management.

It was not surprising equity funds (€798.0 bn) held the majority of assets, followed by bond funds (€276.6 bn), commodities products (€39.0 bn), alternative UCITS products (€5.8 bn), money market funds (€2.3 bn), mixed-assets funds (€2.3 bn), and “other” funds (€0.1 bn).

Graph 1: Market Share, Assets Under Management in the European ETF Segment by Asset Type, April 30, 2021

Source: Refinitiv Lipper

Fund Flows by Asset Type

The European ETF industry enjoyed healthy estimated net inflows for April (+€16.3 bn) which were far above the rolling 12-month average (€13.3 bn).

The inflows in the European ETF industry for April were driven by equity ETFs (+€10.0bn), followed by bond ETFs (+€5.2 bn), commodities ETFs (+€0.7 bn), alternative UCITS ETFs (+€0.2 bn), money market ETFs (+€0.2 bn), and mixed assets ETFs (+€0.1 bn). Meanwhile, “other” ETFs (-€0.001 bn) were the only asset type which showed outflows for the month.

This flow pattern drove the estimated overall net inflows to €16.3 bn for the month and €65.7 bn for the vear 2021 so far.