The third Annual ETF.com Europe Awards, in partnership with Inside ETFs, celebrated the funds, people and companies that contributed to another phenomenal year of growth in the ETF industry in 2016.
From humble beginnings in the early 2000s, the industry in Europe now boasts more than 1,500 ETFs and combined assets of close to €600 billion.
The 25 award categories gave weight to new and innovative product launches, as well as the established ETFs and people who helped investors make wise decisions with their capital last year.
Crowning the winners’ list was the Amundi ETF MSCI Emerging Markets UCITS ETF (LSE: AUEM). It won European ETF of the Year, and gathered more than €1.5 billion of investor assets in 2016, according to the provider.
In a crowded product landscape and at a time when all eyes were on emerging markets’ rallying returns, the $3.2 billion fund also offers accurate tracking of the underlying index: its one-year returns beat every other competitor.
At 19.48% returns over one year to 26 April, it beat the largest fund in terms of assets, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets UCITS ETF (Dist) (LSE: IEEM), which gained 18.53% over the same period.
The winner is relatively cheap, too. Emerging markets is one of the last equity asset classes to move toward low fees, yet AUEM only costs 0.20%.
Amundi’s fund beat the following ETFs to the prize:
- db X-trackers MSCI USA Index UCITS ETF
- Lyxor FTSE Actuaries UK Gilts Inflation-Linked (DR) UCITS ETF
- iShares Edge MSCI World Value Factor UCITS ETF
- Ossiam Shiller Barclays CAPE US Sector Value TR UCITS ETF 1C (USD)
- Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF
Here’s a rundown of this year’s other awards in Europe …