ETFs turn 25 years old: How much further can prices fall?

ETFs turn 25 years old

The first exchange traded fund (ETF) in the world listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada 25 years ago this month and since then growth in ETFs has been phenomenal.

At the end of February, assets in the global ETF industry totalled $2.9trn, held within some 5,632 products, according to research firm ETFGI. This reflects an almost universal acceptance of ETFs in North America over this time, but now they are becoming equally popular in the UK. As demand grows, product providers in the UK have had to adapt to the increased competition, and this has especially affected fees, which have come down significantly since ETFs were first introduced over here. The first FTSE 100 product, launched by iShares at the turn of the century, had a TER of 40bps ...