Strong interest in tactical United States-equity and global all-asset strategies continued to drive asset growth in 2012.
ETF managed portfolios tracked by Morningstar grew by 45% through the third quarter of 2012, as detailed in the updated Morningstar ETF Managed Portfolios Landscape Report issued today. Morningstar currently tracks 506 strategies from 120 firms with collective assets of $57 billion, up 61% from September 2011. The continued strong asset growth in this space is indicative of the demand for ETF-based investment strategies both as stand-alone investment options and as complete portfolio solutions.
As detailed in the full report, global all-asset strategies continue to command a strong 35% of industry assets. That said, an uptick in demand for U.S.-equity strategies, especially tactical offerings, pushed that subset up 61% to $14.2 billion. As a result of that momentum, equity strategies have overtaken all-asset strategies (42%, versus 35%, respectively) as the largest asset breadth category in the universe. While the trend of the largest strategies garnered top flows, a second stable of smaller strategies are also gaining asset growth momentum as various platforms and other decision-makers look to diversify their product offerings and investment lineups.