The big 3 ETF providers in the US—iShares, SPDR, and Vanguard
In the U.S., Blackrock (BLK), State Street GA (STT), and Vanguard are the top three ETF providers. They have a 40.1%, 22.3%, and 20.7% market share, respectively.
Nov. 20 2020, Updated 12:27 p.m. ET
U.S. ETF providers
As of December 2013, 39 sponsors offer you exchange-traded funds (or ETFs).
In the U.S., Blackrock (BLK), State Street GA (STT), and Vanguard are the top three ETF providers. They have a 40.1%, 22.3%, and 20.7% market share, respectively. Let’s take a look at the different products these key players offer you.
iShares – Blackrock
iShares is the largest ETF provider in the world. It lists more than 700 funds globally. And it manages more than $914.8 billion in assets as of December 31, 2013.
iShares is part of BlackRock—the world’s largest asset manager. It has over 40 years of indexing experience. BlackRock lists its funds on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, BATS, and NASDAQ. At first, iShares funds were known as “WEBS.” But the funds have since rebranded.
SPDR – State Street GA
SPDR funds are a family of ETFs that trade in the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific. State Street Global Advisors, SSgA, manages SPDR funds. Informally, they’re also known as “Spyders” or “Spiders.” SPDR is a trademark of Standard and Poor’s Financial Services LLC—a subsidiary of McGraw Hill Financial Inc. (MHFI).
SSgA is a global leader in asset management, entrusted with $2.34 trillion in assets as of December 31, 2013.
Vanguard
The Vanguard Group is an American investment management company based in Malvern, Pennsylvania. It manages approximately $2 trillion in assets. It’s the third-largest ETF provider in the U.S. Vanguard manages approximately $337.2 billion in ETF assets, as of January 21, 2014. Vanguard funds own the Vanguard Group itself. As a result, the investors in the funds own the company.
Vanguard’s founder and former chairman, John C. Bogle, created the first index fund available to individual investors. Experts also credit Bogle for popularizing index funds generally and driving costs down across the mutual fund industry.
Popular Vanguard ETFs are the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), with approximately $46 trillion and $44.5 trillion in respective assets as of June 30, 2014.
Why is ETF demand growing?
In the next part of this series, you’ll find out why demand for ETFs has grown so much over the years.