Some statistics to welcome us back into the new year. Statistics that reflect how, dare I say it, full of unprecedented events 2020 turned out to be. That word, ‘unprecedented’, was estimated to have a 7,000 per cent increase in usage last year, while Oxford Dictionaries reports a 57,000 per cent increase in the use of the word ‘pandemic’.
This year launches with a number of ETF launches from a variety of new providers. Blue Horizon Capital has joined the ranks of ETF issuers with its approach to new energy, based on over 30 years of experience working in the energy sector, while Upholdings’ KNGS, a cashflow compounder launched at the end of December, comes from founder Robert Cantwell whose background lies in on-line retail fashion and hedge funds. Cashflow compounders are companies that generate cash and reinvest at a higher rate of return than the overall market.
Whatever else 2021 brings us, thematics seem to be popular across the board, with Cerulli Associates reporting that, in Europe, net flows into sector-themed equity products during the first 10 months of 2020 amounted to EUR89 billion (USD108 billion), more than triple the net sales for 2019. Assets under management amounted to EUR512.4 billion at the close of October 2020, the firm says.
One firm that has successfully ridden that thematic wave over 2020 is Rize ETF. Read our interview with the firm’s co-founder Jason Kennard, who details how the firm has managed to hit assets under management for its thematic ETFs of USD100 million in the first 10 months of its existence and against all odds in that (whisper it) unprecedented year.
Rize ETF is nominated in the annual ETF European awards, in their 11th year this year. Voting for Rize and all the other nominees is still open. The firms with the most votes win so please get voting.
A final statistic for you – there was a 500 per cent increase in the use of the word ‘unmute’ over 2020. Let’s hope that is a statistic we can leave behind as we head off into 2021.
Beverly Chandler
Managing Editor, ETF Express
Companies in this issue
Blue Horizon Capital
Cerulli Associates
Distillate Capital
Euclid Investment Advisory
Global X
Invesco
Lyxor
Pacer ETFs
Rize ETF
Sound Income Strategies
Swan Global Investments
Trumark
Upholdings