“As a fiduciary we have to be relentless in terms of our expenses … to get the lowest fees possible,” Fink said during the conference call this week.
The BlackRock CEO added that index-based ETFs can coexist with the firm’s actively managed funds because clients are using them together in portfolios.
“Having beta and alpha side-by-side is a very strong position. Most people never thought they could be side-by-side. But we believe by working with our clients, we’re agnostic whether they go into beta or alpha,” Fink said.
When discussing actively managed ETFs, the BlackRock chief said he expects to see a pickup with a change of the SEC rules on derivative use. [Active ETFs May Boom After SEC Lifts Derivatives Ban]
However, he said there is a lot of “noise” about active ETFs. “We believe in them but we don’t expect them to become anything large to the extent of what core type of ETFs will produce,” Fink remarked.
Full disclosure: Tom Lydon’s clients own EEM.