U.S. Leads World in Flows to ETFs

By a wide margin, the United States has led the world in flows to exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which netted $235.2 billion in 2015 and accounted for 63% of the total $372.3 billion of ETF inflows for the year, according to Strategic Insight, an Asset International company. Europe was second, the funds taking in $80.6 billion, followed by Asia ($41.1 billion), Canada ($11.8 billion) and Australia ($4.4 billion). In Latin America, $700 million flowed out of ETFs.

The top-selling ETF strategy last year was large-cap equity global ETFs, which gathered $55.2 billion in inflows. The nine next most popular strategies were: U.S. dollar bond ($44.4 billion), equity Japan ($43.9 billion), equity Europe ($36.4 billion), mid-/small-cap U.S. equity ($27.9 billion), large-cap equity Europe ($25.7 billion), large-cap equity U.S. ($24.4 billion), U.S. dollar short-term bond ($12.3 billion) and leveraged/inverse alternatives ($9.5 billion).

An examination of last year’s 25 best-selling ETFs in the U.S. shows international equity dominated—13 of the chart-toppers were in this category, starting with the No. 1 seller, WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity ETF, which garnered $13.5 billion in inflows. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF was No. 2, with $12.9 billion in inflows.