A recent survey has revealed some telling information about the future of the exchange traded fund (ETF) marketplace. In short, if you’re not offering them, you should be thinking about it soon.

The Ignites survey found that most respondents believe that fund families will need to include an ETF in their offerings to remain competitive. Greg Schoulas for Ignites reports that about 61% of respondents said that having no ETF products will be a marketplace liability for investment companies.

Other findings include:

• 33% said fund companies will definitely need ETFs in the future, but not necessarily right now;
• 28% said ETFs are currently needed to maintain a manager’s marketplace standing;
• 39% believe investment companies do not need an ETF to be competitive

Fortunately, major industry players appear to be realizing the importance of expanding their offerings to include ETFs. There are many mutual fund companies looking to get in who, just three years ago, would never have imagined adding ETFs to their lineup.

Charles Schwab is stepping into the game with three foreign funds as well as offerings that track the broad U.S. equity market, large-cap stocks, large-cap value, large-cap growth, mid-cap and small-cap. Fixed-income giant Pimco and iShares buyer BlackRock are also joining in the fun.

These are some really big names, and we think it’s just the beginning. The ETF industry is going to look really interesting before long.

The survey by Ignites was an unscientific sampling of their audience. 331 individuals voted on a voluntary basis.

Tags: ETF Performance Reports, Mutual Funds, New ETFs, Polls