The Anevis Solutions team attended last week’s exchange traded forum, focusing on all things related to ETFs, taking place in Vancouver, BC.
This was quite an interesting event that brought together over a hundred in the North American exchange traded community. There were a good range of topics discussed over the course of the conference, as well as some interesting dialogue with the other attendees.
Three of the major themes that garnered a lot of interest included market adoption of the Robo-advisory channel in Canada, Smart Beta as an investment theme and continual growth in ETFs as an investment vehicle, across an increasingly broad range of investment strategies.
The Robo-advisory Channel in Canada, and abroad, is starting to reach a critical mass, helped with their ability to facilitate client growth in a scalable, affordable manner and with the ability to cater to a millennial investor class that seem uninhibited breaking away from the more traditional financial model of a close client – advisor relationship. There was also credence given to the purchase of robo-advisors by some significantly large US asset managers, obviously trying to reap benefit from this trend.
A second major theme that was brought up at this event was the growth in Smart Beta investment strategy, and what it means for traditional index investment and the comparison against active management. Moreover, it is not only Smart Beneta, but there also seems to be growth in derivations of the smart beta theme with names such as strategic beta or modified beta.
A third theme that was quite topical over the two day conference was the continual growth in both ETF AuM in aggregate as well as the continual growth (or explosion) in ETF funds issued as well. With, on average, new ETFs being rolled out each and every day, this is a theme that is both important as well as impressive. One of the biggest challenges will be to ensure that these funds continue to offer advantages over other strategies and a unique investment offering.
These were some of the major themes that were introduced and there were many more as well, along with a great chance to interact and engage with industry peers and represent the Anevis Solutions brand in a global setting, we hope to be a part of next year’s exchange traded forum. Also, if you’d like to read more about this topic and have future articles delivered conveniently to your inbox, please sign up for our newsletter.
