ETFGI, a British research firm specializing in exchange traded funds (ETFs) and exchange traded products (ETPs) says the industry reached a new high point at the end of May.

"ETFs and ETPs listed globally gathered $22.4 billion US in net new assets in May which, when combined with a small positive market performance in the month, pushed assets in the global ETF/ETP industry to a new record high of $2.55 trillion US," reads ETFGI’s global ETF and ETP industry report for May 2014.

At the end of the month, ETFGI says the ETF and ETP industry had 5,283 funds and products worldwide, offered by 219 providers and listed on 59 exchanges.

Certain countries and regions also hit record highs in assets at the end of May 2014, including the United States with $1.8 trillion US and Canada with $63.2 billion US.

“In May investors invested net new money in almost equal amounts into equity and fixed income exposures with net new flows going into a broad spectrum of exposures from riskier EM equities to safer government bond products," explained Deborah Fuhr, managing partner at ETFGI.