The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has published new datasets and staff analyses examining developments across the U.S. investment fund landscape, including the growth of active exchange-traded funds, fee outcomes following fund mergers, and updated statistics covering several categories of regulated market participants.
The data was released by the Commission’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) and summarized in an SEC press release issued in early February.
ETF market and active fund growth
According to the SEC, the U.S. ETF market now includes more than 3,600 exchange-traded funds with assets exceeding $10 trillion.
One of the newly published reports examines the rise of actively managed ETFs, finding that while active ETFs account for a smaller share of total ETF assets than passive products, the number of active ETFs and their asset growth rates have increased significantly in recent years.
Fund mergers and fee outcomes
A separate DERA analysis reviewed mergers involving mutual funds and ETFs, focusing on changes in fees following consolidation.
The SEC said the data shows that fund mergers are generally associated with lower fees for investors in acquiring funds, based on historical merger activity reviewed in the report.
Updated statistics on regulated market participants
In addition to the fund-focused reports, the Commission said it has updated its public statistics and data visualizations covering municipal advisors, transfer agents, and security-based swap dealers.
The updated datasets are available through the SEC’s public statistics and data portal and are intended to support market transparency and regulatory oversight.
Related analysis
For additional context on how the newly released data reflects broader structural trends in the U.S. investment fund market, see CryptoMegaphone’s analysis of the SEC’s ETF and fund-merger findings.
