This year marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of the world’s first exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The world’s first exchange-traded, index-linked product—the precursor to the modern day ETF—was launched on the Toronto Stock Exchange when the Toronto 35 Index Participation Units (TIPs) was listed in 1990. In March 2000, TIPs was merged into the iUnits S&P/TSE 60 Index Participation Fund. Following several name changes in the following years, that fund is known as the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF today.
Read: How are institutional investors using ETFs?
“The ETF is a made-in-Canada financial innovation. We are proud to have led the world in the creation of this revolutionary investment product,” says Ungad Chadda, senior vice-president of the TSX.
The Canadian ETF market has seen impressive growth over the past quarter century, and 2014 was a noteworthy year for the industry. The year ended with nearly $77 billion in assets under management, up $13.7 billion from 2013—the largest annual increase in the industry’s history.
The ETF market garnered double-digit annualized growth of over 20% last year. As of Feb. 28, 2015, there were 354 ETFs listed on the TSX, with 77 new products launched since January 2014. ETFs currently represent more than 20% of total TSX listings.
In 2014, 5.5 billion ETF shares were traded on the TSX, representing almost 7% of all trading on the exchange.
Looking for related articles? Click here to read more stories about ETFs.
Also read: