The State of Development of the European ETF Industry after a Decade: Evidence from the Demand Side

ETFs have experienced tremendous growth in the past decade: the fi rst European ETF was launched in 2000, and by late 2009 there were 829 ETFs in Europe and ETF assets under management amounted to around US$227 billion (Fuhr and Kelly 2009b). And the ETF market is still growing: whereas the fi rst ETFs attempted to replicate the performance of broad equity
markets, newer products are venturing into more exotic markets and asset classes, such as emerging markets and alternative investments, real estate, infrastructure, private equity, and even hedge funds.