WisdomTree crosses $50 billion as currency-hedged funds lead record inflows

WisdomTree Investments has crossed $50 billion in assets under management, ETF Strategy reported on March 11. The firm reached the mark in under ten years, having listed its first ETFs in June 2006.

WisdomTree operates under a narrow mandate. ETF Strategy describes the firm as the only independent, publicly traded asset manager focused exclusively on exchange-traded products. Its strategies begin at the index level, from fundamentally weighted 'smart beta' to currency-hedged equity funds built on proprietary WisdomTree indices.

Jonathan Steinberg, chief executive and president, called WisdomTree 'an ETF success story at the forefront of the biggest trends in asset management.' The immediate evidence is flow. Steinberg said the firm is experiencing record inflows of $9.7 billion this year, led by its pioneering currency-hedged family, and that it has been a consistent asset gatherer since 2006 with growth accelerating recently.

The shift is broader than one issuer. The US ETF industry held more than $2 trillion at the time, still a fraction of the $13 trillion traditional mutual fund market. But according to Investment Company Institute figures cited by ETF Strategy, since 2007 ETFs have generated roughly 54% of combined inflows into ETFs and long-term mutual funds. Equity ETFs collected about $1 trillion in that stretch, while long-term equity mutual funds saw outflows of roughly $278 billion.

Steinberg called the move to ETFs 'a structural, universal and irreversible trend,' citing transparency, liquidity and tax efficiency. The data support the direction, if not the certainty. What the numbers show is a decisive turn: new money has favored ETFs, but the pile of assets still sits with mutual funds.

For a mid-tier independent issuer, the $50 billion mark is a meaningful proof of concept. WisdomTree built its own indices, packaged them into ETFs and gathered assets against much larger traditional houses. The record inflows show the model still has momentum, and the currency-hedged products led the way.