The Canadian exchange traded fund (ETF) industry continued to grow in 2013, according to an update released by Toronto-based BMO Global Asset Management (BMO GAM) on Tuesday.

According to the he Canadian ETF Outlook Update 2013, the Canadian ETF industry currently has $60 billion in assets under management, a six percent increase from December 2012. Inflows for the year so far are over $4.1 billion.

Looking at specific sectors, fixed income ETFs make up about 55% of year-to-date inflows in Canada at $2.3 billion. Equity ETFs, on the other hand, consist of almost 40% of year-to-date inflows of about $1.7 billion.

This growing interest in ETFs is a positive shift for financial advisors, says Mark Raes, head of product, global structured investments, BMO Asset Management Inc., because advisor can find more value for their clients in new asset classes such as high-yield bonds or emerging market bonds. “[Advisors are] able to do a lot more and make different decisions then they would have been able to do in the past,” says Raes.

In the coming months, Raes expects the summer’s trend of inflows shifting to U.S. equity ETFs to continue as people move away from fixed income.

“Now the people see more volatility in the bond markets and they’re less sure of the path of the Fed,” he says, “they’re looking to other asset classes to get the income they want for their portfolios and ETFs are a great tool to make that shift.”

Raes also expects to see more inflows in Canadian and U.S. low volatility or defensive ETFs and dividend oriented ETFs. Says Raes: “Dividend focused ETFs are certainly catching a lot of interest as people are looking to maintain yield levels in their portfolios.”