Betashares confirmed on Thursday that its flagship equities funds passed $4 billion in funds under management amid continued growth in the Australian ETF industry.
The firm said its Betashares Australia 200 ETF (ASX: A200) and the Betashares NASDAQ 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ) both surpassed the figure during January after collectively receiving $1.4 billion in net flows over 2023.
This has placed the two ETFs firmly within the top 10 largest ETFs in Australia.
Betashares’ chief executive officer, Alex Vynokur, said Betashares has seen an influx of interest from Australian investors and financial advisers as they look for ways to construct diversified and robust portfolios, well positioned for long-term wealth creation.
“Over time we have seen meaningful use of a number of our ETFs as long-term core holdings,” Mr Vynokur said.
“With market sentiment becoming more receptive to growth assets, we’re already starting to see more investors and their financial advisers add to their equities allocations via ETFs, after showing a clear preference for cash and fixed income ETFs during 2023.”
Net flows into Australian and international equities ETFs hit a collective $8.2 billion last year, helping propel the Australian ETF industry to a record $177.5 billion in funds under management at the end of 2023.
Moreover, recent research by Betashares and Investment Trends found that 53 per cent of ETF investors plan to allocate to international equities in the next 12 months, while 48 per cent plan to do the same for Australian equities – both significant increases on investors’ intentions for 2023 where the figures were 42 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively.
Cash the preference in 2023
In December, Betashares announced an expansion of its range with the addition of four new funds offering geared long and geared short exposure to 10-year US Treasuries and Australian government bonds.
At the time, Mr Vynokur said: “Our new range of geared fixed income exposures can play a helpful role in allowing investors and asset allocators navigate different market conditions in a more convenient investment vehicle.”
The firm now offers 18 funds in the category of cash, hybrids, and fixed income with a total of more than $10 billion in funds under management, which Betashares said makes it the largest provider of cash, hybrids, and fixed income ETF solutions in Australia.
Alongside Betashares, a number of other firms have also expanded their line-up of cash and fixed income ETFs in 2023, including JP Morgan Asset Management, Macquarie Asset Management, VanEck, and BlackRock.
