Australian ETF industry firmly on its way to $400b milestone

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist

14 July 2026

The Australian exchange traded fund (ETF) industry has notched yet another total assets under management (AUM) record of $372 billion to mark halfway through the year, setting the $400 billion milestone firmly in its sights.

This comes just one month after exceeding the $350 billion mark across both ASX and Cboe listings, according to Betashares’ half-year review, with total growth over the six months upwards of $40 billion across 496 products – of which $3.5 billion was recorded in the month of June alone.

Reflecting broader investment trends across the local market, flows into passive products largely outpaced those in active strategies ($27.5 billion compared to $2.4 billion) despite a surge in the number of active ETF launches. Smart beta funds also collected approximately $4.7 billion in flows in the first six months of the year.

International equities retained their top spot in terms of flows captured by asset class at $13.7 billion, closely followed by Australian equities at $8.8 billion and fixed income at $4.7 billion.

“Global equity markets rallied through the first half of 2026, powered by evidence that AI capital expenditure is starting to convert into profit,” Betashares’ Investment Strategist, Tom Wickenden, said.

“Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic all reported AI revenue run-rates up more than 100% year on year, while Nvidia and the major memory makers, Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, became the clearest beneficiaries of the compute build-out.

“Asian semiconductor markets captured this directly, with North Asian chipmakers driving the MSCI Emerging Markets index to the strongest of any major market’s returns, even as an Iran-triggered oil spike and a US$1.5 trillion software sell-off tested the rally’s nerve during the half.

“Domestically, the ASX 200 managed just 2.4% over the same six months, the weakest of the major developed markets. Three RBA rate hikes in the half pushed inflation and unemployment back into focus, rewarding income and value over growth.

“Materials carried the bulk of the market’s earnings growth, benefitting from elevated iron ore and gold prices, and critical mineral demand from the AI rollout. The May budget’s proposed removal of the CGT discount added further
uncertainty for households already absorbing higher borrowing costs, and the combination has weighed on consumer sentiment through the half.”

Flows and funds under management (FUM) remain heavily concentrated among the top three providers, with Vanguard, Betashares and iShares accounting for over 76 per cent of June’s flows and 64 per cent of current FUM.

The Global X Semiconductor ETF dominated the market in terms of performance (101.96 per cent), riding the wave of broader investor appetite for “AI-related hardware demand”. The iShares MSCI South Korea Capped Index ETF followed at 94.15 per cent, with Global X Hydrogen ETF at 70.52 per cent, Betashares Asia Technology Tigers ETF at 58.91 per cent and Betashares Crude Oil Index Currency Hedged Complex ETF at 44.89 per cent.

However, the industry did experience subdued flows in the month of June compared to previous months after May’s $5.3 billion, and actually fell to its lowest point in the 2025-26 financial year.

“International equities reclaimed the top spot at $1.63 billion (47%), ahead of Australian equities at $1.01 billion (29%) – a reversal from May, when Australian equities led for the first time in the period,” the Betashares report said.

“Cash & fixed income more than doubled to $1.03 billion from $494 million in April. Short exposures remained negative for a second month at -$39.9 million, and commodities swung sharply negative to -$288.3 million, the largest outflow from any asset class across the 12 months.”