The market for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) reached a new record high last year with investments in Deutsche Börse's ETF segment exceeding €1 trillion (+39 percent; 2020: €788.1 billion). With a trading volume of €205 billion in 2021 and 1,757 different products, Xetra is the leading trading venue for ETFs in Europe.

ESG ETFs were among the most popular categories. At €33.6 billion, turnover in ESG ETFs increased by 176 percent year-on-year. This equates to 16.4 percent of total ETF trading turnover on Xetra. This also makes Xetra the largest exchange venue for ESG ETFs in terms of trading turnover and number of listed ETFs. 208 were listed on Deutsche Börse last year, the highest number for 10 years. 136 of these were classified as sustainable under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

"Continued strong growth in our ESG segment reaffirms how mission critical sustainability is for issuers and investors. With more than 500 ESG ETFs now on Xetra, we offer investors the largest range of products in Europe. We are working with issuers to expand this range further and meet ever higher levels of demand," said Stephan Kraus, head of Deutsche Börse's ETF segment.

Demand for bond ETFs with inflation protection was also high, with trading volumes rising to €2.3 billion (+73 percent; 2020: €1.3 billion). Assets under management grew to €17.3 billion (+72 percent; 2020: €10.1 billion). At the end of last year, 25 bond ETFs were available to investors on Xetra, providing diversified exposure to European, U.S. and global inflation-linked government bonds.

Deutsche Börse has quickly expanded its product offering for crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs), rising from 4 to 36 products from eight providers as of year-end 2021. The ETNs are for cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Ethereum, Litecoin, Polkadot, Solana, Stellar, Tezos and TRON, as well as four baskets of cryptocurrencies. Average monthly trading turnover in crypto ETNs increased to over €1 billion (+922 percent; 2020: €103 million).

In addition, Deutsche Börse expanded its trading offering last year to include multi-currency capability for ETFs and exchange-traded products (ETPs). The new service allows investors to trade the same ISIN in parallel across several currencies on Xetra. For ETF and ETP issuers, this makes it easier and more cost-effective to add additional trading currencies to the primary trading currency of an ETF or ETP. It eliminates the need to create a separate fund share class with its own ISIN. Investors in turn benefit from an expanded ETF and ETP offering in more trading currencies.

More facts and figures can be found here: ETF statistics 2021.