Increased issuer concentration
Flows by issuer remained as concentrated as in 2019, with the top two issuers (Vanguard and BetaShares) once again receiving ~60% of industry net inflows for the half-year.
Australian equities dominate flows
While the Fixed Income category received the highest level of inflows in 2019, Australian broad equity products have been dominant in 2020, receiving more than 1.5 times the flows of the next biggest category, global equities (receiving inflows of $3.5 billion and $2.1 billion respectively). In contrast, only $263 million flowed into fixed income over the half year, with investors appearing to reduce allocations to bonds as yields continued to fall. Inflows into commodities ETFs also jumped, as investors turned to gold as a safe haven exposure.
Trading volumes remain robust
As well as the substantial increase in overall trading volume, there were also marked changes to the most-traded products for this half year when compared to the previous half. In particular, short products were heavily traded, with BetaShares’ BBOZ, which offers short exposure to the Australian sharemarket, topping the list of the most traded products in the month.
Outlook for the rest of 2020
Looking forward for the rest of the year, BetaShares retains the forecast it made at the end of 2019, and continues to expect total industry FuM at end 2020 to be in the range of $72-$78B.
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