| European ETF appetite grows - slowly This week we have two interviews with people who represent large European ETF issuers, Caroline Baron from Franklin Templeton and Martijn Rozemuller from VanEck.
Both recount issues growing distribution of ETFs across France in particular, with Baron saying: "In France we want to encourage more people to buy ETFs but certain specifics in certain markets are not allowing that. It’s a mix of regulation and education and rules that apply to the country which makes the rise of ETFs slower than in the US."
Rozemuller, who has been in European ETFs since he established ThinkETFs in Amsterdam in 2008, has seen the industry grow across Europe, despite the distribution problems. Like Baron, he refers to retrocession as a big issue, particularly in France, and notes that VanEck, which bought ThinkETFs in 2018, has found success with its thematic ETF offering. Rozemuller comments that he finds
it annoying to see so many financial professionals selling far too many expensive solutions to their clients for too many years.
He says: "Cost efficient solutions are in the long run better but some people cannot be seduced because they think vanilla ETFs are boring, but it is good to offer them thematic exposures for a small part of their portfolios."
Our In My Opinion column this week comes from Nitesh Shah, Head of Commodities & Macroeconomic Research, Europe at ETF issuer WisdomTree, who writes that poor craftsmen often blame their tools.
"Central banks, tasked with the impossible, will likely keep on innovating their tools as they tread new ground in this policy normalisation journey," Shah says.
Next week, 28th June at 2.00 BST, ETF Express and Asset TV are hosting a live interview with US bitcoin and crypto veteran firm Grayscale’s David LaValle, Managing Director, Global Head of ETFs at Grayscale. The firm has recently
launched the Future of Finance UCITS ETF in Europe under the HANetf umbrella, so we will also be joined by Andre Voinea, Head of DACH Sales at HANetf. We will be discussing all things cryptocurrency and digital.
To register for this live event on 28th June, 2.00 BST, please click here.
Beverly Chandler, managing editor, ETF
Express
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Companies in this issue
First Trust
Franklin
Templeton
Grayscale
HANetf
JP Morgan Asset Management
Osprey Funds
ProShares
VanEck
WisdomTree
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