European ETF assets climb to $131 billion

European assets in ETFs surged 27% to €89 billion ($131.2 billion) in 2007, according to data released by Deutsche Bank. ETF assets under management in Europe have grown almost tenfold in the past five years, with “room for much more growth in the next 10 years,” Thorsten Michalik, director of Deutsche Bank’s ETF platform, dbx-trackers, said in a news release. BGI led with 44% of the market share, managing €39.4 billion in European ETF assets as of Dec. 31, partly as a result of its acquisition last February of Germany’s INDEXCHANGE Investment. Lyxor Asset Management, the leading ETF manager in 2006, was second with €23.4 billion and 26% of the market share. Deutsche Bank’s dbx-trackers was third with 8% of market share, €7.3 billion. Equity ETFs remained the most popular at €71 billion as of Dec. 31, a 23% increase over 2006, according to Deutsche Bank. The largest percentage increase was in fixed-income ETFs, which swelled by 55% to €14 billion. Commodity ETFs grew to €4 billion, a 35% increase. The number of ETFs issued in 2007 increased to 429, from 267 in 2006.