Billion-dollar ETF outflows down August AUM

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist, Financial Newswire

15 September 2022

Over $1 billion in recorded outflows for an iShares exchange traded fund (ETF) has sent the Australian ETF industry’s month-on-month assets under management (AUM) into a decline, falling 0.2 per cent.

BetaShares’ monthly Australian ETF review found the industry closed the month of August at $130 billion in AUM, with net industry flows remaining positive at $0.6 billion despite the outflows from the iShares ETF.

“It appears as though the vast majority of this outflow came from a single institutional client in what we believe to be the single largest trade in Australian ETF history,” the report said.

“Notably, and as testimony to the liquidity of ETFs more generally, this trade occurred seamlessly and without causing any material market impact.”

The trading value of ETFs on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) was also largely unaffected by the outflows, increasing by 22 per cent month-on-month at $10.3 billion – the sixth largest month in history for trading value.

The industry has also recorded growth of four per cent or $4.9 billion in the last 12 months.

Five new products were launched during the month of August, including an Australian-first Metaverse-oriented ETF – the BetaShares Metaverse ETF – and four new products from iShares.

The top performing products for August included an active ESG-oriented ETF from Magellan (16.7 per cent), a BetaShares Uranium ETF (13.8 per cent) and ETF Securities’ Ultra Short Nasdaq 100 Hedge Fund (11.7 per cent).

Australian equities suffered in August after leading net industry flows in July due to the iShares product outflows. International equities came out on top at just over $400 million, followed by fixed income at just over $300 million.