Funds Hub
Money managers under the microscope
LIPPER: Are ETFs in trouble?
By Detlef Glow, Head of EMEA Research at Thomson Reuters fund research firm Lipper. The views expressed are his own.
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have found themselves under ever more scrutiny from regulators and market participants this year and expectations are that new rules for the sector are just a matter of time.
It’s tempting to think of ETFs as unwilling victims of new regulation, but to my mind, ETFs have much to gain.
The point is that it isn’t just regulators who are seeking improved transparency on fund holdings and on the use of derivatives by mutual funds, crucially it is end-investors too. And once the fog has cleared, they might come to see ETFs — with daily published portfolios and clearer statements on the use of derivatives in general — as a role model for all kinds of mutual funds.
The discussion surrounding ETFs could leave you with the feeling that they are unregulated products; that fund promoters can go wild when creating new products and with the use of derivatives in the portfolios. In reality though, ETFs follow the same local and/or international legislation of any other mutual fund; the EU UCITS regime for example.
So, why all the fuss around ETFs? In my opinion, there is nothing uniquely wrong with these products as they are using the same tools and techniques used by other funds under the UCITS regime. Some authorities, however, have raised questions as ETFs grow in popularity among professional investors. A deeper look into the questions posed shows that the points made by the critics are not only applicable to ETFs, but to any mutual fund.
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