ETF sales climb in 2011

Despite continued market volatility through the final quarter of 2011, Canadian-listed exchange traded funds posted net sales of nearly $3 billion, according to the Canadian ETF Association (CETFA).

That capped off a year of $7.6 billion in net new sales. Overall assets under management grew by nearly 13% in 2011 to just over $43.1 billion.

Net sales data is based on the amount of money used for net creations of new ETF units. Positive net creations indicate that more units of a given ETF are being bought than are being sold.

Investors focused on income-paying ETFs, which accounted for more than $4.4 billion in net creations for the full year. The Fixed Income ETF category attracted $3 billion of that total, with $1.4 billion in net sales coming in Q4 alone.

Canadian Equity ETFs attracted just $1.3 billion in net new funds for the year, with $595 million coming in the final quarter.

While there are hundreds of ETFs available on Canadian markets, the top 10 best sellers attracted 87% of total net sales. The clear leader was the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index Fund, which attracted $558 million in net sales in the fourth quarter.

Ranking a distant second, iShares DEX Universe Bond Index Fund attracted $209 million. By the time you get down to tenth-ranked BMO Covered Call Canadian Banks ETF, Q4 net sales total $85 million.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.