ETFs remain popular with investors

Article Excerpt

New money continues to flow at a rapid pace into Canadian ETFs. In the first three months of 2021, those funds attracted $13.4 billion of new money. That brought total ETF assets up to $258.8 billion by March 31, 2021. The bulk of the inflows this year moved into stock ETFs, with the funds that offer global exposure for investors attracting the most money. Value, small-cap, technology, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds were particularly popular. RBC/iShares remained the market leader with a 31% share of Canadian ETFs, closely followed by BMO and then by Vanguard in a distant third place. The largest inflow of new money went into the ETFs provided by Vanguard and BMO, while Mackenzie, TD Asset Management, and National Bank also had strong asset gains. The BMO MSCI USA ESG Leaders ETF (symbol ESGY) attracted over $1 billion in new money. That made it the most popular ETF in the first quarter of the year. The…