ETFs hit record in Canada with BlackRock, Vanguard, banks dominating

etfs-hit-record-in-canada-with-blackrock,-vanguard,-banks-dominating

Total inflows came in at $52.5 billion for the year, a 27 per cent increase from a year earlier

Author of the article:

Bloomberg News

Layan Odeh

BlackRock Inc. headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Photo by REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo Exchange-traded fund providers enjoyed a record year in Canada, with BlackRock Inc., Vanguard Group Inc. and two of the country’s largest banks dominating the chase for investors’ money in 2021.

Advertisement This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Total inflows came in at $52.5 billion for the year, a 27 per cent increase from a year earlier, as retail and institutional investors continue to turn to ETFs for “tactical and strategic” reasons, National Bank Financial analyst Daniel Straus said in a report.

More than half of the new money went to three groups. Bank of Montreal’s ETF division topped the list with $9.6 billion, slightly ahead of RBC iShares, an alliance between Royal of Bank of Canada and BlackRock. Vanguard was next with $8.6 billion.

No other firm had net inflows of more than $4 billion.

More On This Topic Canada needs fixing as the digital transformation takes hold Elon Musk? Apple? Nah, interest rates were the real star of the year ‘Investors will see better outcomes’: OSC to hold firms to account on new client-first rules, Vingoe says This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content The big three ended the year with about 70 per cent of the $323 billion in ETF assets under management, according to Straus’s calculations.

Rising markets and COVID-19 lockdowns help explain the strong year of inflows, the analyst said. “Over the past 12 months, Canadian investors had little discretionary outlets for their spending, given travel restrictions, retail closures and other lockdowns to businesses like gyms, restaurants and mass entertainment,” he wrote. “It makes sense that enhanced buying power would therefore make its way to investment accounts of all types, especially funds.”

The Canadian market was also given a boost when regulators allowed the creation of physical cryptocurrency funds. In total, crypto ETFs received close to $6 billion of inflows in Canada during the year. U.S. regulators have been more hesitant to sign off on crypto products, though the first Bitcoin-linked ETF listed in the U.S. made its debut in October.

Bloomberg.com

Financial Post Top Stories Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the Financial Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.

By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300


Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *