ETF industry giant ACA Group was formed in May 2022 when ACA Group merged with Foreside Financial Group.
Christopher Lanza, Partner, Co-Head of ACA Foreside Distribution, came from the Foreside side of the business, having joined that firm 19 years ago, to lead it into the ETF servicing industry.
ACA Group provides a full suite of Governance, Risk and Compliance advisory, technology, managed services, analytics, distribution, and outsourcing solutions to the financial services industry. They have more than 6,000 clients and work with 90 per cent of the top 50 money managers.
ACA Foreside is the largest US third party Distributor/Legal Underwriter of mutual funds and ETFs. It also is the largest L/U of Series Trust platforms (or white labels), currently servicing 43. The party Distributor/Legal Underwriter role is a US-only phenomenon which stems from the Investment Company Act of 1940 and requires registered pooled investments to partner with asset managers and sponsors.
Lanza explains that the role is not one of an underwriter in the sense of insurance or public stocks, but a medallion distributor in the sense of a registered broker-dealer provider enabling the public offering of the products.
“I think of our distributor services role as foundational for advisers to launch funds in a compliant fashion” he says. “The foundation role includes our regulated (non-retail) broker-dealers from which key fund services are provided such as fund marketing review for compliance purposes and dealer agreements and authorised participant agreements for primary market trading in the case of ETFs.
“We had an excellent 2025 in part driven by our clients launching a high number of ETFs. We assisted launching 545 of our clients’ ETFs and are grateful to be trusted advisers for them. In the last six years, we have launched close to 50 per cent of all US industry ETFs.
“We are also successful in servicing alternative funds, which for our distributor services in the US are defined as private placements and closed-end interval and tender offer funds. The related increasing retailisation of alternatives continues to also drive growth in the US. ETFs are also attractive in bringing alternative fund strategies to the market.
“The growth of the ETF industry in the US and globally has been amazing. I find it quite remarkable how innovative ETF strategies have increasingly become. Many of them are taking complex strategies and offering it in an easy to buy efficient ETF wrapper. These developments really continue to make ETFs more accessible to a broader audience.”
Another innovation in ETFs in the US is the introduction of ETFs as a ‘dual share class’. ACA Foreside serves as a key provider supporting the first launch with F/m Investments on 12 February 2026. In this unique instance, F/m developed a mutual fund share class for one of its ETF offerings.
“We have been actively discussing the ETF dual share class structure with our clients and participants in the industry for a good two years since the Vanguard patent expired in 2023,” Lanza says.
“Our objective is to provide our clients with any number of solutions to support their dual share class needs. It’s an excellent opportunity for advisers to be more innovative, create new products for investors, and for them to participate in new distribution channels.”
Some 60 firms filed to launch ETFs as a share class, and at the time of writing, 43 firms have amended their applications.
“There is lots of interest, but we feel advisers are in the process of determining strategically how this structure will benefit their product line up for their shareholders,” Lanza says.
“They are also being cautious until the necessary operational infrastructure from capital markets authorised participants, administrators/custodian, and the US depositary trust company (DTCC) are completely in place.
“This is understandable when you put two product structures together, as in ETFs and mutual funds. They are both registered 1940 Act funds but have different operational service approaches which need to be developed and tested. Many firms have been working on this and once readiness is complete broader rollout and/or adoption may commence.”
Lanza notes that the ETF industry seems to have a long runway of growth.
“New advisers entering, the continued growth of actively managed funds, more mutual funds converting to ETFs, and more digital products are all contributing to the fantastic growth of the industry. The ETF share class is also on the contributing list but, in our opinion, timing will probably be next year.”
ACA Group is a global firm and ACA Foreside leverages the firm to supplement work solely in the US ETF industry at the moment, while offering a gateway US product that helps asset managers and issuers who want to come to the US, offering chaperoning services or offshore DTCC settlement services.
The 2022 merger provided many benefits, Lanza says, including a London office and access to the UK and EMEA. “Among other benefits, it provided us with the element that we were seeking at ACA Foreside, to be more global,” Lanza says.
“ACA Foreside services the US entities, as well as international firms. ACA Group also acquired a consulting advisory firm (Effecta) for a presence in Dubai,” he says. “It’s a great example for the firm following asset manager growth outside of the US and the growing needs of our clients. The asset management industry around the world is high growth.”
