Assets invested in globally listed exchange-traded funds and products set a new record of $3.02 trillion in May, according to ETFGI's preliminary monthly ETF and ETP global insight report, released Friday.
At the end of May, 256 providers listed on 62 exchanges in 51 countries had 5,757 ETFs/ETPs, with 11,117 listings, ETGFI reported. "Our forecast was that assets would break through $3 trillion by the middle of 2015," ETFGI managing partner Deborah Fuhr said in a statement.
"It took the global ETF/ETP industry 19 years to reach $1 trillion in assets under management, 23 years to reach $2 trillion in AUM and just 25 years to reach $3 trillion in AUM."
Fuhr said the increasing rate of asset growth illustrated how institutional investors, financial advisors and retail investors around the world had embraced ETFs as an investment solution.
Indeed, they have become more popular than mutual funds with financial advisors, according to a recent report.
ETFGI said assets for the funds and products listed in the U.S. and Japan also set records in May, reaching $2.2 trillion and $117 billion, respectively.
