Advisors and investors allocated $469 billion to exchange-traded funds in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, a 19% increase over the previous year, Broadridge Financial Solutions reported Thursday.
Eighty percent of the net new assets came from retail channels driven by advisors, according to data released through Broadridge's Fund Distribution Intelligence. During the third quarter, retail channels captured 77% of all ETF net flows, $195 billion.
Broadridge said that in the year to the end of the third quarter, RIAs, independent broker-dealers, wirehouse firms and online digital platforms contributed more than $370 billion of net new ETF assets, up 21%.
RIAs accounted for $132 billion, and continue as the biggest holder of ETFs with $874 billion, according to the report.
"Advisors continue to embrace ETFs for client portfolio allocations across both equity and fixed income products," Frank Polefrone, senior vice president of Broadridge's data and analytics business, said in a statement.
"The dramatic growth of ETFs is driven by the changing distribution landscape, including the increase in the number of fee-based advisors, as well as the use of model portfolios that primarily utilize ETFs."
Cerulli Associates recently reported that 53% of RIAs in a study used ETFs for both core and satellite holdings.
According to Broadridge, combined net new assets into funds and ETFs from retail channels were up $854 billion in the 12-month period, compared with $353 billion for institutional channels.
