Lipper analysis of the European exchange-traded fund industry has uncovered 241 funds that the fund research firm describes as being on a “death list”.
Lipper head of Europe Middle East & Africa research Detlef Glow says it has put an estimated 14 per cent of the ETFs registered for sale in Europe on the list, as Lipper believes they may be under internal review due to profitability concerns.
The funds in question are over three years old and each fund has less than £81m in assets.
Glow explains: “Despite the number of sub-scale funds, with new ETF launches continuing there is currently no foreseeable trend towards consolidation in the ETF industry.”
Despite these concerns, the ETF industry demonstrated strong performance in the first quarter, when assets under management rose by 8.7 per cent to £202bn. This followed weak growth of 3.75 per cent in 2011.
