Celebrating the winners in the 15th European ETF Express ETF awards

Last night we celebrated the winners in the 15th European ETF awards where I reflected on ETF firms that have come and gone in the European ETF industry over those 15 years.

I was also very pleased to announce that this year, we will be expanding our popular awards series to Asia, with the first Japanese awards to be held at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in September.

Speaking at the London event, Keisuke Arai-san, Director, New Listings Department, Tokyo Stock Exchange, said: "I am particularly excited that this remarkable event will take place in Japan for the first time. I believe that such an event will contribute to the growth and development of the ETF market, not just in Asia but globally."

Many congratulations to all our winners in this year’s European awards. We will be bringing you the full list of winners and photographs from the event in a few weeks.

It was a busy week for ETFs generally this week. Firstly, what is it with managed futures? Andrew Beer of DBi and manager of the iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF in the US has been celebrating the strategy since 2019 and now we have a European version of his fund, iMGP DBi Managed Futures Fund R USD ETF.

And lo, Beer has attracted friends, with managed futures’ ETF launches in the US from BlackRock and Invesco this week. Readers might know that I have a sentimental attachment to managed futures (I think I am not alone in this) having, many years ago, written Managed Futures – An Investor’s Guide for the publisher John Wiley.

The strategy thrives in volatile markets and loves its non-correlation to other markets which can of course be a good thing or a bad thing, depending which pretty much sums up the managd futures experience. At the time, I wrote that ‘managed futures funds represent an attempt to bring order out of chaos in investment in the derivatives markets’. Clearly, the strategy is having something of a renaissance. My advice? Hang on to your hats and enjoy the ride.

Interviews this week included a chat about the thermostat ETF, designed to make ETFs comfortable whatever the weather, brought to you by a new ETF issuer, WEBs Investments Inc. I spoke with CEO Ben Fulton who explained that the firm’s new ETFs dynamically adjust exposure to equity markets based on real-time volatility, aiming to provide a smoother investment experience.

Our Paris correspondent, Romain Thomas, reported on Amundi and CaixaBank’s launch of Lifecycle ETFs, designed to give the investor a simple, cost-effective, and transparent way to align their investments with some of their key life goals.

We also have the February overview of global digital assets from our friends at CoinDesk and Trackinsight and written by Joshua de Vos, who says: "February marked a sharp reversal of momentum for digital asset investment products, with broad-based outflows and weaker performance across major assets.

Finally, please get nominating in the ETF service provider round of our upcoming Canadian ETF awards, which will be held at the Toronto Stock Exchange on the 29th of May.

Beverly Chandler, Managing Editor

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