The Japanese segment of the market is joining the general record-breaking performance in asset terms of the ETP and ETF market.

Exchange traded funds and products (ETFs and ETPs) listed in Japan drew in $23.8 billion of new assets in the first seven months of 2015, overtaking the $15 billion brought in during the same period a year ago, figures show.

At the end of July 2015, the Japanese ETF/ETP industry had 154 ETFs/ETPs, with 209 listings, assets of $125 billion, and from 21 providers listed on two exchanges, according to ETFGI, a firm monitoring the sector.

Nomura Asset Management gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in July with $2.9 billion, followed by Nikko Asset Management with $1.7 billion and Daiwa with $711 million in net inflows.

Record levels of net new assets have also been gathered by ETFs/ETPs listed globally, which have garnered $199 billion in the first seven months of 2015.

ETFs are typically open-ended, index-based funds, with active ETFs accounting for less than 1 per cent market share. They can be bought and sold like ordinary shares on a stock exchange and offer broad exposure across developed, emerging and frontier markets, equities, fixed income and commodities. Exchange traded products, meanwhile, are similar to ETFs in the way they trade and settle but do not use an open-end fund structure. The use of other structures including unsecured debt, grantor trusts, partnerships, and commodity pools by ETPs can, in addition to a significantly different risk profile, create different tax and regulatory implications for investors when compared to ETFs, which are funds.