25th Anniversary of the first ETF in Canada

LONDON — March 9, 2015 —  Twenty five years ago on March 9th, 1990 the first ETF was listed in Canada on the Toronto Stock Exchange: the TIPs (Toronto 35 Index Participation Fund) tracking the TSX 35 index. The TIPS ETF listed nearly three years before the first ETF the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was listed in the United States on January 29, 1993.
 
“Twenty-five years marks an important milestone for the ETF industry which has grown significantly on many measures. ETFs have become a democratic investment tool and solution that are used by institutional investors, financial advisors and retail investors around the world to allow them to easily, transparently and at a lower cost than many other financial gain access to many asset classes and to developed, emerging and frontier markets.” according to Deborah Fuhr, managing partner of ETFGI and independent research and consulting firm based in London.  
 
The global ETF/ETP industry had 5,632 ETFs/ETPs, with 10,902 listings, assets of a record level of US$2.919 trillion in assets, from 245 providers listed on 63 exchanges in 52 countries at the end of February 2015, according to data from ETFGI’s preliminary monthly global ETF and ETP insight report.
 
At the end of February 2015, the Canadian ETF industry had 355 ETFs, with 502 listings, assets of US$65 billion, from 9 providers listed on the Toronto Stock exchange. Canada accounts for just 2.2% of the assets invested in ETFs/ETPs globally and has been an innovator in the ETF industry listing the first equity, fixed income and currency hedged ETFs to name a few of their firsts.
 
The TIPS ETF does not exist in its original form as it was merged on March 7, 2000 with the HIPs (Hundred Index Participation Fund) tracking the TSX 100 index into the iUnits S&P/TSE Index Participation Fund (XIU CN): which has been renamed the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF (XIU CN).
 
Please email contact@etfgi.com or deborah.fuhr@etfgi.com if you would like to subscribe to ETFGI's monthly global ETF and ETP industry insights reports containing over 300 pages of charts and analysis, ETFGI's Institutional Users of ETFs and ETPs report or custom analysis. Professional investors can register on ETFGI’s website to receive updates, press releases and ETFGI’s free monthly newsletter.