Transparency rules

This week we interviewed Kristof Gleich, Harbor Capital’s President & CIO, on the firm’s journey from the pensions and investments department of the world’s largest glass manufacturer, to becoming a stand-alone entity offering portfolio construction. The firm largely uses external active managers to manage its range of mutual funds and, increasingly, ETFs, with its thirteenth ETF launch in just two years, just reported.

"We scour the world for best-in-class managers and our background also explains our longer-term nature of investing as our original clients were our blue-collar colleague workers. We have a very different origin story rather than coming out of a Wall Street bank," Gleich says.

The continuing theme of a major asset manager moving into launching ETFs came from investment giant Robeco this week, by chance, like Harbor Capital, part of Japan’s Orix Corporation. The firm has hired Nick King from Fidelity to launch their first ETF platform.

The firm commented that Robeco is constantly seeking ways to expand the delivery of its investment strategies and innovate, writing: "ETFs are one such opportunity to achieve both. Given their advantages as compared to mutual funds, we expect ETFs to become a preferred vehicle for investors in the long run. Offering both mutual funds and ETFs will position us up for long-term competitiveness and increase our ability and flexibility to serve clients."

Robeco is working to launch its first ETF in the second half of 2024.

Beverly Chandler, Managing Editor

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