Data and financial analysis provider FE has launched its first pure passive fund awards to coincide with the first anniversary of its FE Passive Crown ratings.

The ratings and research firm said the awards were in recognition of the “growing importance that passive investing plays in the UK asset management industry and the commitment and professionalism of passive investing teams.” FE says the passives industry has boomed in recent years, with the number of global ETFs rising from 713 in 2006 to 3,423 as of May this year, according to FE Analytics data.

Figures published this month show that assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed globally reached a record high US$3.143 trillion at the end of May 2016. In the UK, FE says the latest figures from the Investment Association show that tracker funds have £109.2 billion funds under management at the end of April 2016 – 10.7 per cent of total industry funds, up 1.1 per cent from last April.

Mika-John Southworth, director at FE said: “In the course of collecting data on over 3,000 passive funds we recognise the valuable role passives play in helping investors construct cost effective portfolios. 

“Although the rise in the number of passive funds is impressive, there is a stark difference in performance between the best and worst passive funds. We appreciate of the lengths that some asset managers go to provide the most effective and lowest cost investment options, therefore we felt that it was right to recognise these participants with their own awards.” 

Winners of FE’s Passive Fund Awards, 2016

Matthieu Guignard, global head of product development and capital markets, Amundi ETF, Indexing & Smart Beta, said: “We’re delighted to have been nominated by FE - especially as they seek to select funds for their quality of replication. Maintaining low levels of tracking error and tracking difference is core to providing clients with efficient and reliable investment tool.” 

The winning passive funds were awarded the top spots according to a purely quantitative methodology looking at tracking difference, tracking error and fund size over the past three years.

To score top marks across the three criteria, passive funds have to have a tracking difference of less than 0.75 per cent, a tracking error equal to or less than 0.5 per cent and a fund size of over £100m.

• New research commissioned by Source, a provider of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in Europe, reveals that, on average, institutional investors predict the global ETP market will double in size over the next five years to account for 6% of global investment fund assets under management (AUM). ETFs/ETPs currently account for around $3.137 trillion (3%) of AUM held in investment funds globally.