Strengthening the defences

ETFs reflect world events and this week we have seen that the launches and news in the ETF world were dominated by defence ETFs, with HANetf announcing the planned arrival of a European focused version of its NATO defence ETF and WisdomTree reporting that its WisdomTree Europe Defence UCITS ETF has achieved USD554 million in net new flows in its first two weeks of trading and currently has USD511 million in assets under management.

Meanwhile, VanEck reported that, less than two years after its launch, the VanEck Defense UCITS ETF has reached a fund volume of USD4 billion. After reaching the USD1 billion mark in August 2024, the ETF has now quadrupled its fund volume in around seven months.

Our interview this week is with a new entrant to the European ETF industry, Madrid and London based fund platform, Allfunds, with Juan de Palacios detailing the firm’s expansion to include ETPs on its platform. The move was driven by some 80 per cent of the firm’s clients asking for active and thematic ETFs.

I am very happy to report that I have been busy working with IMPower’s Fund Forum event in Monte Carlo again this year and I have put together and will be chairing a few of the ETF panels. We will be talking to some robo-adviser/neobroker firms about how their offerings are affecting the distributon and growth of ETFs across Europe and also to ETF selectors on what their clients are asking for. I can offer readers who want to hear these insights a 10% discount using this code: FKN3972SPK, and this link.

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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