ETFs worldwide saw a significant growth in 2006, according to Deborah Fuhr, the Managing Director of Investment Strategies at Morgan Stanley. At the FTSE RAFI Seminar held in February, Fuhr highlighted the progress of ETFs since their inception over a decade ago.
Although most people think that the first ETF was the US Spdr, the first global ETF was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada 11 years ago.
At the end of December 2006 there were 732 listed ETFs with 1,060 listings. Total assets under management (AUM) reached USD573.87 billion. These assets were managed by 64 managers on 38 exchanges worldwide. During 2006 worldwide year to date ETF AUM increased by 37.6 percent.
In the US there were 12 managers of 343 ETFs by December 2006. AUM totalled USD406.81 billion listed on 4 exchanges.