December and January tend to be months of reflection and predictions, many of which are far from correct. Hindsight 2021 was a historic year in terms of record inflows, mutual fund entrants into the ETF market, and a slew of crypto related products which launched globally, but what shall we expect this year to happen, which will be the biggest opportunities for growth and hindrances or threats in each region?
In this first of its kind report, Blackwater Search&Advisory’s Andrea Murray, Head of Business Development and author of the report spoke to over 25 asset management firms across the globe to find out what thought leaders in both the ETF and Digital Asset industry predict for 2022.
Where the industry is heading
Looking forward, trends in the areas of ETF fee compression, product benchmark switches to ESG, and more niche thematic and crypto product launches will continue in 2022, as predicted by the ETF and Digital Assets firms approached by Blackwater Search & Advisory.
Worldwide ETF inflows crossed the $1 trillion mark leapfrogging 2020’s global total of $736 billion. Helping to increase the asset watermark closer to $10 trillion mark, Dimensional made massive waves with its debut to the ETF space joining the likes of American Century, Janus Henderson, Nuveen, and T.Rowe. Dimensional has over $40 billion in AUM and almost from the gate landed within hands reach of the top 10 ETF issuer category.
Across the board most agreed that launches and asset growth will continue globally, particularly in the ESG and thematic area. And as one contributor to the report wonderfully said, “there’s no doubt in my mind that both of those trends, fuelled by investor demand, asset flows and consequent product launches are set to continue.”
