Money continues to pour into Canadian exchange traded funds (ETFs), with total assets reaching a record high last month. BMO Asset Management has gathered the most new money in this product category.

Industry research firm ETFGI reports that Canadian-listed ETFs saw $1.96 billion USD* of net inflows last month, bringing total asset levels for the category to a record high of $79.42 billion.

Market growth

The Canadian ETF industry has grown significantly over the last decade. In 2006, ETFGI says there were just 28 ETFs in Canada with $23 billion in assets, while at the end of June 2016 there were 422 ETFs, offered by 16 product providers and listed on 2 exchanges.

Year to date, equity ETFs were the most popular category with investors and reported $4.23 billion in net inflows, followed by fixed income and commodity ETFs which gathered $3.52 billion and $139 million in net new assets respectively.

BMO Asset Management

BMO Asset Management had the biggest gains in the Canadian ETF market in June and reported net inflows of $945 million, followed by Vanguard with $433 million and iShares with $369 million. BMO also holds the top spot in assets gathered year to date, reporting net inflows of $4.14 billion, while Vanguard and iShares tied for second place with $1.39 billion each.

*All figures in this article are in US dollars.