Bruce Bond, the force behind PowerShares Capital Management, spoke with Investor’s Business Daily about the success of exchange traded funds (ETFs). If the ETF marketplace is like the wild west, Bruce Bond is its Buffalo Bill. PowerShares offers 86 ETFs, with $10 billion in assets. A former sales and marketing executive, Bond left Nuveen when the company veered away from ETFs. He began PowerShares and based it on Intelligent Indexes, or "Intellidexes". Joanne Von Alroth reports his inspiration for new ETFs comes from all directions; from institutional investors, advisors, or tracking trends or the market. He says their ETFs are different because they’re very transparent, objective and rules-based.
Before establishing a new ETF, PowerShares feels the fund has to able to go over $100 million in a year and a possible ability to pass the $300 million mark. Bond doesn’t just want to offer a fund, he wants to offer a real growth opportunity.
Most of all, Bond feels the ETF market isn’t swamped at all. He compares this market with the mutual fund market of 1984. Between 1984-1994 there were 4,000 new mutual funds launched-that’s 400 a year. He feels there’s plenty of room for more ETFs. It’s all about perspective.
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