ETF authority, Deborah Fuhr (pictured), together with her long-established team, has formed ETF Global Insight, an independent research and consultancy firm aimed at providing services to the rapidly expanding global Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) industry.
The new firm is focused on providing thought leadership; publishing independent research on the industry, products, applications, competitor analysis; providing education and assistance to investors on product comparison, asset allocation implementation and offering customised research.
The founding partners of the firm bring a wealth of ETF implementation and capital markets experience to the venture. Deborah Fuhr, Shane Kelly and Matthew Murray were instrumental in the development of the first ETF global industry research reports and worldwide handbooks while they were at Morgan Stanley and most recently they have been responsible for the development and production of ETF reports and handbooks at BlackRock/Barclays Global Investors.
Co-founding partner Deborah Fuhr says: "Having covered the ETF industry since 1997 when there were only 21 products and USD21 billion in assets under management I believe that ETFs have been one of the most successful financial products of the past 25 years, bringing investors liquidity, diversification and low-cost access to a wide range of asset classes around the world. While asset growth in the ETF industry has been tremendous, regulators, investors, ETF managers, brokers, index providers and all of the members of the ETF eco-system have been citing the need for more and better independent education, research and customised assistance to investors seeking to navigate the vast array of products. ETF Global Insight has been set up to provide this service across the globe."
Fuhr was previously the Global Head of ETF Research and Implementation Strategy and a Managing Director at BlackRock and Barclays Global Investors from Sept 2008 – Oct 2011. Under Fuhr’s guidance, BlackRock’s Global ETF Research and Implementation Strategy team was responsible for advising clients on the implementation of asset allocation strategies using ETFs, producing analysis and guidebooks on the global ETF industry.
Prior to joining BlackRock in September 2008, Fuhr spent 11 years at Morgan Stanley where she was a Managing Director and head of the Investment Strategies Group based in London.
Shane Kelly is a former Vice President at Merrill Lynch and former Vice President and Investment Strategist at BlackRock/BGI; prior to that he was an Associate in the Investment Strategies Group at Morgan Stanley. Matthew Murray is a former Associate at Merrill Lynch and a former Analyst in Fuhr’s team at BlackRock.
During their time at BlackRock, the team won numerous awards for their research which was distributed to over 13,000 professional investors around the world.
Fuhr added: "The need for independent research and assistance in navigating the ETF landscape is even greater today than at any time in the past ten years. Across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, there are exciting opportunities to bring ETFs to more investors in more countries with quality tools and research that serve their requirements. We believe the industry will see significant change as investors and regulators demand greater transparency, clarity and information which will benefit investors globally."
ETF Global Insight is a passionate advocate of the value proposition offered to investors by the ETF product category. The firm believes that true ETFs have been a tremendous advantage to investors, providing transparency, liquidity, diversification and choice to millions of investors. ETFs have grown from less than $25 billion of assets globally in 1997 to more than USD1,500 billion at the end of January 2012.
