Investors’ Confidence in ETFs Continues to Grow, per State Street

State Street Global Advisors on Monday released the results of its 2024 ETF Impact Survey, which tracks financial adviser, institutional and individual investor sentiment toward exchange-traded funds, as well as investor attitudes and perceptions toward the economy and ETFs. Among other findings, the survey found that institutional investors who use ETFs are more satisfied than investors who do not.

Institutional investors were polled on their ETF usage, asset allocation and economic predictions for the year. These investors were most bullish about equity market performance, with 57% saying they expect the S&P 500 to end the year with a gain.

Among institutions surveyed, 67% were classified as heavy users of ETFs, meaning they use ETFs in their investment strategies extensively or frequently. ETF usage ranked highest amongst Japanese firms, with 82% of institutions in the country reporting they either frequently or extensively use ETFs. Light users of ETFs were described in the survey as investors who sometimes or rarely invest in ETFs.

Heavy ETF usage was lowest in Sweden, at 56%, with 8% of Swedish institutional investors reporting rarely using ETFs at all. In the U.S., 61% of respondents reported being heavy users of ETFs, the second lowest among all geographies surveyed.

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“There is still growing confidence that ETFs should be a core part of a diversified portfolio,” said Anna Paglia, State Street’s chief business officer, in a statement.

State Street Global Advisors found that 23% of institutional investors use ETFs in liquidity management and hedging. Another 19% said they use ETFs as core holdings for diversified exposure. Approximately 16% said ETFs are primarily used for tactical asset allocation and market timing, and 15% said they use ETFs to access specific markets, sectors or themes.

Approximately 11% of institutions reported use of ETFs for rebalancing, while 7% said they use ETFs for interim beta, cash equitization or transactions, and another 7% said they use ETFs for risk overlays. In the U.S., investors said they are most likely to use ETFs to access specific markets, while liquidity management was the top reason for U.K.-based investors. Swiss investors reported being more likely to use ETFs for tactical asset allocation and interim beta.

Institutions are also very likely to consider actively managed ETFs: 80% of those surveyed said they are likely to consider these ETFs, 16% reported being neutral on active ETFs, and 4% said they are not likely to consider them. Investors with heavy usage of ETFs were also more likely to be satisfied with their portfolios: 86% of institutions with heavy ETF usage reported portfolio satisfaction, while only 65% of investors with light ETF usage reported portfolio satisfaction.

Institutions with heavy ETF usage reported that liquidity is important to their investment strategy: 91% of these investors said it is important, compared with 68% of investors with light ETF usage.

The survey was conducted by research firms A2Bplanning and Prodege, surveying 576 global institutional investors involved in the decisionmaking of firms with assets under management of at least $1 billion. In the U.S, State Street polled 201 financial advisers, who advise on more than $25 million in assets each, and 319 individual investors with assets of at least $250,000.