Global exchange-traded product assets exceeded the US$1 trillion mark for the first time at the end of September, according to the ETF research and implementation strategy team at Barclays Global Investors.

Exchange-traded fund assets represented US$933 billion of the total, with US$106 billion in other tracking products such as ETCs and ETNs, BGI reports.

European ETF assets represented US$204 billion of the total on 30 September, BGI says, and the European ETF market continues to grow at a faster pace than the larger and more mature US market.  European ETF assets have risen by 43% so far this year, compared to a 27% rise in the US total.  Part of the increase is market-related, of course, with the MSCI US index up 17.7% over the first three quarters of 2009 and the MSCI Europe index (in US dollar terms) up 27.4%.

However, while ETF sales in the US market were running neck-and-neck with those of mutual funds during the first seven months of 2009 (US$47.4 billion vs. US$50.8 billion, respectively, according to Strategic Insight), in Europe ETFs were outsold by mutual funds over the same period (ETF sales totalled US$19.2 billion, while mutual fund sales totalled US$122.2 billion, according to Lipper FMI).

iShares retains a dominant position globally amongst ETF providers, with a 48.4% market share, followed by State Street Global Advisors (14.8%), Vanguard (8.3%), Lyxor (4.6%) and db x-trackers (3.6%), BGI’s figures show.