This week’s newsletter details growth in the ETF industry from a number of angles. The big interview with SS&C ALPS Advisors’ President Laton Spahr sees him detailing his conviction that semi-transparent ETFs are the way forward, plus his observation that ETF investors are increasingly looking to private equity and private debt markets for returns in a low yield environment.
We also have an interview with Impact Shares, the not for profit ETF provider whose CEO Ethan Powell welcomes the new US President and fresh hope of making change, along with a new Chief Engagement Officer, Marvin Owens, who was previously the Senior Director of Economic Development at the NAACP.
We also have FlexShares’ sixth biennial outing for its survey of US financial advisers, which finds that most of them are planning to reassess their approach to outsourcing investment. “Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen a clear shift in the perceived benefits of third-party outsourcing – whether that’s utilising external investment managers or other non-investment related service providers – as advisers’ expected role continues to evolve from investment manager to holistic financial planner,” says Laura Hanichak Gregg, Director of Practice Management and Adviser Research at FlexShares.
The UK’s home-grown robo-adviser, and Europe’s largest, Nutmeg, has announced this week its new Smart Alpha portfolios with JP Morgan Asset Management aimed at bringing active management, with an ESG filter, through ETFs to the retail investor across the UK and Europe.
Meanwhile, Refinitiv’s Lipper figures show net inflows into European ETFs across October, while Amundi’s figures show flows down globally, on the back of nerves over the US election and the second wave of Covid.
Finally, Tesla grabbed the news again this week with the announcement that it is to be included in the S&P 500. We spoke with GraniteShares’ founder and CEO Will Rhind on the move and the volume in his 3x long and 3x short Tesla ETPs around the announcement, plus comments from Adam Vettese, analyst at multi-asset investment platform eToro, and definitely one who sits on the long side of the stock.
Beverly Chandler
Managing Editor, ETF Express
Companies in this issue
Amundi
Changebridge Capital
FlexShares
GraniteShares
Impact Shares
JP Morgan Asset Management
Leatherback Asset Management
Nutmeg
Refinitiv
SS&C ALPS Advisors
Tesla