US institutions move to embrace ETFs

Research from Cerulli Associates reveals that US institutions are gradually moving into using ETFs, a finding that supports a lot of what we are going to be talking about in October’s etfLIVE North America digital summit – you’ll find more information on that at the end of this editorial.

The ETF rule and the arrival of semi and non-transparent ETFs have definitely given the US ETF industry a leg up in its asset raising. We have an interview with Columbia Threadneedle Investments’ Marc Zeitoun on their annual financial adviser survey that shows that most of them think they will increase their allocation to ETFs.

For one firm and its advisers, it was a simple decision, as Cabana Asset Management instantly gained over USD1 billion in assets when it unleashed its adviser base on an ETF version of its target drawdown products – read our interview with them. 

More news from the US comes from Blue Tractor which is to ride out into pastures new through a red gate (forgive me – it’s been a long week) with the launch of the first ETF from Red Gate Advisers using its shielded alpha structure. 

Meanwhile, back in Europe, Invesco has taken the opportunity to report that synthetic ETFs offering exposure to core US and global equity benchmarks have delivered strong outperformance with lower tracking errors compared to physical ETFs across the past year.

We also have a new ETF issuer arriving with a gold ETF. Meet Wilshire Phoenix, founded by institutional asset managers and bringing institutional structure to their ETFs with the planned launch of their innovative gold ETF.

With all the upheaval and change and uncertainty of this year, the last thing markets need is an election, but here we go, running up to the US Presidential election on 3 November. It’s not been a dignified start, with the first TV debate still ringing in our ears as I write, but we are launching the first in what will be a series of columns over the next few weeks, looking at the US election from the ETF perspective. There’s plenty more comment coming through and do reach out if you would like to add to the series.

Finally, Thursday 1 October saw our virtual awards networking ceremony, announcing the winners of the second outing of our US ETF awards, with data provided by Bloomberg. Many congratulations to all our winners, who have been judged and deemed winners by their peers – the strongest of accolades in this huge but collegiate industry.

Do register for our etfLIVE North America digital summit – professional investors go free, with added CPD points.





Beverly Chandler
Managing Editor, ETF Express

Companies in this issue
Almalia
Amundi
BlackRock
Blue Tractor
Cabana Asset Management
Cambria Investment Management
CBDX
Cerulli Associates
ClearShares
Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Defiance ETFs
Global X
Invesco
iShares
Loomis Sayles
Red Gate Advisers
TrueMark
Vanguard
Wilshire Phoenix
 

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