ETF News

Emerging market ETFs 'attracting strong inflows'

Emerging market exchange traded funds (ETFs) have increased their share of total assets "dramatically" over the past 18 months, claiming almost half of global inflows since March, an analyst has said.

In an interview with Index Universe, Brad Durham of fund research specialist EPFR Global said that of the $28.3 billion (£17.2 billion) that has flowed into all types of emerging market stock funds since March, some £13.4 billion has gone to ETFs.

Total assets for emerging market stock funds are currently valued at around $356 billion, of which approximately $106 billion is in ETFs.

Mr Durham said the main attractions of ETFs for emerging market investors are their ease of investing, increased flexibility and lower fee costs compared to other investment vehicles.

This is because these investors tend to take a "more top-down approach" in order to drive down costs, in contrast to developed markets, where asset allocation is seen as a key factor in driving growth.

Mr Durham is the co-founder and managing director of EPFR Global, which monitors fund flows and asset allocation for both traditional and alternative funds with combined assets of $10 trillion.