ETF industry set to exceed $2tn despite slow UK uptake

With several new players entering the UK market, exchange-traded funds are beginning to grow in popularity as a cheap and easy way of playing markets

Despite a slow uptake in the UK, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry is expected to exceed $2 trillion on a worldwide level by 2011, according to Morgan Stanley. America is clearly still the main market for these products but their popularity is increasing in the UK and Europe after initial reluctance to adopt ETFs into portfolios. ETFs can be defined as open-ended investment companies that can be traded at any time and are index-linked rather than actively managed. Investors use them to play indices, sectors, investment style and commodities. The first vehicle was listed in Toron...