An Emerging Titan In The ETF Business

One nifty thing about the evolution of the ETF industry is that while the biggest players like BlackRock's BLK iShares, State Street's STT State Street Global Advisors and Vanguard continue to dominate the landscape in terms of assets under management, there has proven to be ample room for smaller ETF issuers to make a name for themselves as well. ETF issuers such as Claymore, ETF Securities and Van Eck's Market Vectors unit have all turned out some appealing and popular ETFs that have been embraced by investors. Add Global X to the list of ETF issuers to keep an eye on. Global X has brought 14 new ETFs to market over the past 20 months, garnering an impressive $500 million in assets, according to a statement issued by the company. Noteworthy is the fact that Global X is appealing to investors with ETFs across a broad swath of sectors and specialty areas. The Global X/Interbolsa FTSE Colombia 20 ETF GXG is the top-performing emerging markets ETF in 2010. The newly minted Global X Lithium ETF LIT has proven to be a hit with investors, accumulating more than $32 million in assets in less than two months of trading. The Global X Silver Miners ETF SIL is another fairly new offering that has been well-received investors. Global X is also the only ETF issuer to offer ETFs for specific sectors of Brazil and China's economies. The company issues financials and consumer ETFs that track those sectors in Brazil as well as six sector-specific China funds. The party doesn't stop there for Global X as the issue has announced plans to roll out ETFs tracking Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates. Bottom line: Global X has become the fastest growing U.S. ETF issuer by knowing what ideas will work and what niches investors want to see filled by ETFs. Keep an eye on what Global X has planned going forward.