July turnaround for Aussie ETF industry

After three successive months of market slumps, the Australian exchange traded fund (ETF) industry has recorded its strongest net inflows in nine months to grow assets under management (AUM) by 4.8 per cent for the month of July.

This equates to approximately $5.9 billion, leaving the industry to finish the month at $130.2 billion after net inflows of $2.2 billion were recorded, according to BetaShares’ Australian ETF Review for the month ending July 2022.

The report also said the industry grew by 10 per cent in the last 12 months ($11.5 billion) and it had not experienced a month of net outflows in the last 10 years despite recent sharemarket volatility.

Australian equities continued to lead the charge on ETF flows with just over $1 billlion in net inflows, followed by international equities at just over $500 million. Gold exposures also recorded the highest net outflows for the month of July at just over $24 million.

The review found there were now 300 exchange traded products listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), with two product launches this month focused on U.S. bonds from ETF Securities.

At the other end, Magellan opted to closed its “heavily publicised… potential ‘gamechanger’ for retirement income in Australia” FPAY retirement focused product after just over a year in trade, delisted with only $20 million in assets.

The report also noted the resilient performance of cryptocurrency-related exposures and products, which comes after months of large declines amid volatility and increasing risk. ETF Securities’ 21Shares Ethereum ETF returned 65.8 per cent for July, which was followed by BetaShares’ Crypto Innovators ETF at 40 per cent.