ETFs attract investors

DRAWCARD: FLEXIBLE, TRANSPARENT, GIVE EASE OF ACCESS TO PORTFOLIO

- Liesl Peyper

ATTRACTIVE. EasyEquities figures show a move toward listed, low-barrier investments.

(Picture: AdobeStock)

Actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are rapidly outpacing traditional unit trusts on EasyEquities, the low-cost online investment platform owned by Purple Group, as investors look for more flexibility, transparency and ease of access to their portfolios.

At the 2025 ETF Industry Conference in Cape Town on Tuesday, Nicola Comninos, group chief investment and risk officer at Purple Group, said one in 10 of every active EasyEquities client holds an actively managed ETF.

"We see about 5 000 new investments in active ETFs every month," she says.

EasyEquities now count more than two million registered users and over one million active accounts, with ETFs making up about 40% of total transaction volumes on the platform.

Comninos says even though actively managed ETFs are relatively new, the purchases of these products have outpaced unit trust purchases by 30%.

"Why are actively managed ETFS such wonderful products? It's because, in South Africa, our asset managers can outperform the market and deliver superior returns," she says.