Structural advantages win the day

Our interview this week is with a relatively new issuer of ETFs in the US that puts the active into active by applying its quantitative, data driven approach to large cap international companies and in the US.

Andrew Skatoff, founder and chief executive of Bancreek Capital Advisors, told Fiona Nicolson that the firm had brought its proprietary framework and quantitative tools to make investing in structurally advantaged businesses outside the US more accessible for investors.

Explaining the nature of the ‘structurally advantaged’ businesses that the firm’s models seek to identify, Skatoff says: "The companies in the portfolios are businesses with a very specific area of expertise, that have developed an ‘edge’ – in some cases over a period of more than 100 years."

This style of investing lies closer to the hedge fund world and shows just how far active ETFs have come in such a short time. Exciting times.

Our weekly performance data from our data partners, Trackinsight, reveals that tin, which was top the week before, has dropped to the bottom – such is the brutality of the commodity markets. Cryptocurrencies always seem to feature in the performance tables, but Fineqia’s Matt Greco has detailed the recent turnaround in fortune for bitcoin ETFs.

"Last week saw stagnant demand for BTC ETFs, continuing a short-term trend observed over the past five weeks, with neutral flow in these financial products," Greco writes. "ETFs with BTC as the underlying asset experienced approximately USD325 million in outflows during the week, following the USD205 million outflows observed the week prior. This marks the third consecutive week of net outflows for BTC ETFs."

May should see the SEC make a final decision on Ethereum (ETH) Spot ETFs, with Greco noting that the final deadline for the Invesco & Galaxy filing is May 7th, prompting the SEC to respond by that date.

Greco writes: "Market participants anticipate the SEC to withhold approval for these products, despite the approval of BTC ETFs in January. Concerns over the liquidity of ETH’s spot and futures markets, as well as its classification as a security by the SEC in the past, contribute to the scepticism surrounding prompt approval. In the event of rejection, issuers would need to resubmit filings and restart the approval process, potentially leading to approval in Q4 2024 or Q1 2025 in the best case scenario.

News came in as we were going to press that Janus Henderson has bought the UK’s ETF issuer Tabula Investment Management, continuing a process where smaller European issuers are snapped up by firms keen to access Europe. More exciting times!.

Voting is still open for ETF service providers and issuers in our Canadian awards. Please follow this link to support your favourite firms.

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Beverly Chandler, Managing Editor

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