Asian investors warm to exchange-traded funds: study

INVESTORS in the Asia-Pacific are warming to exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a study by Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management has found.

ETFs' assets under management (AUM) in the Asia-Pacific rose 16 per cent between January and May to US$234 billion. Nearly 93 per cent of the assets are invested in equity ETFs.

Some 70 per cent of investors in the survey have invested in ETFs, compared to 55 per cent five years ago. More than 100 institutions in the region participated in the survey.

Sam Manchanda, Deutsche AWM head of South East Asia (passive investments), said: "We're pleased that the education process is going in the right direction."

Globally, some US$2.82 trillion is invested in exchange-traded products (ETPs), rising 7 per cent year-to-date. Deutsche AWM's passive investment platform has about 118 billion euros (S$178 billion) in assets.

A greater proportion of investors (53 per cent) are aware of the tax disadvantage of investing in US-listed ETFs and avoid them, compared to 29 per cent in 2011. About 31 per cent also favoured Asian-listed ETFs due to the parallel trading hours, compared to 16 per cent in 2014.