It’s been a huge year for the ETF industry with the launch of a record number of new funds, record asset flows, and some of the biggest firms converting their mutual fund strategies to ETFs for the first time. The year saw a lot of outperformance for indexes in the first half, but as volatility increased, the appeal of active management continued to grow with the launch of increasingly more active ETFs and more flows being routed into actively managed funds, reports Barron’s .