European ETF provider Tabula Investment Management Limited has reported that its assets under management (AUM) grew by 144 per cent in 2021, from USD275 million to USD672 million, while the European fixed income ETF market as a whole grew significantly slower.
Tabula writes that their new analysis reveals the European fixed income ETP market saw assets under management grow by just 8 per cent last year, with inflows of USD43 billion.
The firm writes that its growth has continued in 2022 with the launch of the Tabula EUR HY Bond Paris-aligned Climate UCITS ETF (THEP). The new fund is the first to offer EUR high yield bond exposure in an SFDR Article 9 ETF. The firm now manages over USD700 million.
Tabula’s analysis reveals that last year net new assets (NNA) for Article 8 European ETPs were USD87 billion, compared to USD42 billion in 2020. For Article 9 European ETPs, the 2021 figure was USD17 billion compared to USD10 billion for 2020. This near doubling of net new assets further highlights the systemic shift in investment guidelines occurring across the European investment landscape, the firm says.
Article 8 funds promote, among other characteristics, environmental or social characteristics, or a combination of these, and Article 9 funds target bespoke sustainable investments.
Almost half of Tabula’s AUM is now in Article 8 or 9 ETFs, and USD245 million of its roughly USD400 million inflows last year went into its ESG strategies.
Tabula’s fixed income ETFs which saw the biggest growth in assets last year included the Tabula Haitong Asia ex-Japan High Yield Corp USD Bond ESG UCITS ETF (TAHY) which had USD206 million in AUM by the end of 2021, despite only launching in September. The SFDR Article 9 Tabula EUR IG Bond Paris-aligned Climate UCITS ETF (TABC) saw its assets grow from launch in January 2021 to USD123 million by December. The Tabula US Enhanced Inflation UCITS ETF (TINF) grew from USD17 million to USD100 million last year.
Commenting on the growth, Michael John Lytle, CEO of Tabula, says: “2021 was a transformative year for Tabula. Our focus on innovation, and meeting the needs of professional investors, resulted in a number of our fund’s seeing strong growth. Our emphasis on Article 8 and Article 9 sustainable solutions, together with the development of tools that enhance exposures such as hedging inflation exposure helped take an outsized share of client investments. Our latest fund launch provides Euro high yield exposure in an Article 9 ETF.”
Chief Commercial Officer Stefan Garcia says: “Last year we saw sustainable investing move mainstream, with new asset flows into European-listed ESG funds double that of 2020. Our discussions with investors show clear demand for funds that have sustainable investment targets and at Tabula we are passionate about providing sustainable investments to every part of the fixed income market.”
