There is a certain school of thought out there which would have you believe that it would be easier to fly to the moon than it is to launch an ETF business. “Its gonna cost millions”, “its gonna take years to build”, “you’ll need to hire an army of people”.

Are all if these statements really true or just smoke and mirrors to steer you down a certain path? I guess the answer to that is subjective but my response would be No, No and No.

The path to market is well worn now so there should really be no surprises. There are options to build, to buy and to partner with white label firms, making all needs well served.

In fact, I would say that it’s never been easier to enter the ETF market. Just follow the yellow brick road and no need to go dusting down that old space suit.

Launches this week

Flows & performance

Looking across issuers, Vanguard is having a stelling year in the US so far, bringing in $101bn of assets. iShares are second on the list but ONLY with $67b. That’s a $34bn gap between the two.

In Europe, iShares still rule the roost with $27bn, followed by DWS at $12bn and Vanguard at $9bn.

Listen & learn 

A podcast series focused on exploring the career journey of industry leaders within the ETF and Digital Assets space. Get to hear their personal story and be inspired.

This week we hear from Susan Thompson, Head of Americas Distribution for SPDR ETFs.

In this conversation Susan talks about:

• How connecting other people is a good way to approach networking
• Why having intellectual curiosity is key to career success and
• Why people would be a lot happier if they didn’t take things so persona

Things of interest

Ireland’s financial regulator is planning to review its rules on portfolio transparency for ETFs, according to lawyers. The Central Bank of Ireland, which regulates Europe’s largest domicile of ETF assets, requires the products to disclose their full portfolio holdings daily, but this is seen by many as a barrier to the growth of active ETF investment strategies.

The removal of such a requirement would bring UCITS ETFs in line with UCITS mutual funds but personally I’m not sure its such a good thing. One of the attractions of ETFs is their transparency so how can making them less transparent be a good thing (for investors at least)?

BBH have released their annual global ETF survey which is an excellent piece of content. Some of the key findings are below but some things that grabbed my attention were:

• 30% of investors note defined outcome ETFs as the strategy they are most interested in
• 42% of investors rank ETF issuer as a top-three consideration when selecting an ETF, highlighting the importance of brand in this industry
• More than a third of ETF investors, 37%, plan to use the actively managed ETFs in their portfolios as a substitute/replacement for active mutual funds

Another big week in crypto. In Europe the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has paved the way for the first-ever listing of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). This decision marks a significant shift in the regulator’s stance, reversing its previous ban on such offerings implemented in 2020. However, such products will only be available to professional investors, with the ban on retail access still in place.

Leading the charge are asset managers WisdomTree and 21Shares, both of whom have secured FCA approval for their prospectuses to list physically-backed Bitcoin and Ethereum ETPs on the LSE. Invesco has also received the green light, though details of their offering remain undisclosed.

Elsewhere, in the US the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved eight Ethereum ETFs for BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, Ark, Invesco Galaxy and Franklin Templeton, causing the price to surge 29% shortly after the news. This comes after the commission approved Bitcoin ETFs back in March this year.

As BBH reported in their survey, brand strength is key to getting investors to select an ETF, a fact which is being taken to new levels by some ETF managers.

An FT article, quotes that Invesco have worked with a retired women’s basketball player as well as a celebrity chef to promote their products and Kraneshares have worked with a “youtuber” who’s background seems to be in I.T. from what I can see.

According to a study by the Journal of Marketing, some 80% of US companies are now engaging social media influencers as part of their marketing tactics and are allocating more budget to it.

Irish domiciled funds surpassed EUR4.3 trillion AuM at end-March 2024, a 15% increase in net assets year-on-year. The Irish Funds Industry Association writes that the increase reflects continued growth across a range of fund types and strategies, including Ireland’s thriving ETF offering which currently stands at EUR1.24 trillion AuM, 70% of the European market.

Ireland is home to 6% of worldwide investment fund assets, making it the third largest centre in the world and the second largest in Europe.

Career corner

Movers and Shakers

• Half of LSE’s team overseeing ETFs has left the exchange, including Michael Stanley, the team’s head, and business development head Hetal Patel. No official word yet on their destination

Salary Trends from our 2024 salary survey

• Heads of businesses are on average getting paid $947k

Tip of the week

I’ve mentioned the importance of brand a lot in this week’s newsletter so what better way to finish off than with a few words on your own brand.

Building your personal brand is critical in the workplace, but too many times it’s an after-thought for people.

A strong personal brand:

1. Gets your noticed in the work environment

2. Enhances your chances to get promoted

3. Strengthens your opportunities for getting headhunted

So don’t leave your personal brand to faith, work on it every single day.