Vanguard index product becomes first ETF to top US$1 trillion in assets

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, the index investing pioneer's flagship exchange-traded product, became the first in the history of ETFs to reach and exceed US$1 trillion in assets, the investment firm confirmed on Wednesday.

The Vanguard fund hit this milestone, the latest record in the remarkable ascent of exchange-traded funds, on Tuesday, less than 18 months after overtaking State Street Investment Management's SPDR S&P 500 ETF in assets, as investors looking for broad market exposure also sought out the lowest-cost funds. VOO levies a management fee of only 0.03 percent, compared to 0.09 percent for the State Street fund, which now is third in the three-way race between those two firms and BlackRock Inc. 

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has the second-largest ETF tracking the Standard & Poor's 500 index, with its iShares Core S&P 500 ETF that now boasts US$860 billion in assets and fees of 0.03 percent, according to VettaFi, the market pioneer that helped open up the ETF market with its 1993 launch, now has US$785 billion in assets.

"This is a key milestone," said Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi. "Investors continue to turn to low-cost broad market exposure to gain access to the S&P 500 using VOO." 

Reuters

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