A paper from PwC provides interesting statistics on exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and products (ETPs). [Alpholio™ uses the latter term to encompass ETFs, exchange-traded notes (ETNs), and other similar investment vehicles.]

As of 3Q2013, about $2.2T was invested in almost 5,000 ETPs globally:

PwC Global ETF and ETP Totals

Thanks to a large single market, an average ETP had much more AUM in the US than elsewhere (however, this does not take into account the typical right skew of the AUM distribution, whereby a small number of funds hold the majority of assets):

PwC Global ETF and ETP per Region

Unlike elsewhere, in the US the majority of ETP AUM belong to retail investors:

PwC ETF Use by Region

The percentage of AUM in active ETFs, whose launch began only in 2008, is still small but growing:

PwC Assets in Active vs. Index ETFs

PwC Active ETF Launches

ETFs enable the shift from individual security selection to asset allocation, especially in liquid markets:

PwC ETFs Displacing Mutual Funds in US Equity Category

ETFs now cover a broad spectrum of asset classes:

PwC ETF Asset Class Coverage

All these findings strongly support the Alpholio™ thesis: the growing number, breadth and variety of ETPs enable more and more accurate assessment and substitution of actively-managed mutual funds and arbitrary investment portfolios for the benefit of investors.

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