In 2014, U.S.-listed exchange traded products, including ETFs and ETNs, gathered a record $245.7 billion of net new assets, taking the U.S. ETF industry over $2 trillion in combined assets.
With that exponential asset growth, advisors and money managers more than ever need to be aware of the important issues facing the ETF industry and how those issues affect client portfolios. The ETF Virtual Summit, scheduled for Jan. 21 at 9 AM Eastern time, will highlight these issues and much more.
Morningstar Global Director of ETF Research Ben Johnson and ETF.com President Matt Hougan will join ETF Trends founder and publisher Tom Lydon on the ETF Virtual Summit Pundits Panel will discuss issues such as the viability of new ETFs. Last year, roughly 200 new ETFs came to market, but 92 of those products had less than $10 million in assets under management as of late December. [Be Careful With Customized ETFs]
The Pundits Panel, which kicks off the ETF Virtual Summit, will also highlight the changing roles of dividend and fixed income ETFs in portfolios at a time when many market observers expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Bond ETFs gathered record assets in 2014 with the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEArca: AGG) and the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (NYSEArca: BND) each ranking among the top 10 asset-gathering ETFs for the year. However, dividend ETFs hauled in over $10 billion in new assets, helping drive continued expansion of strategic beta ETFs. [The Growth of Dividend ETFs]
“According to S&P Dow Jones Indices, 971 dividend increases were reported during the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to the 885 increases which were reported during the fourth quarter of 2013. For all of 2014, 3308 issues increased their payments, up 14.3% from the 2895 issues that increased their payments during 2013,” said S&P in a note out last week.
The pundits will also discuss the rise of robo advisors.
In the fourth quarter of 2014, Schwab President and CEO Walt Bettinger announced Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, a digital advice platform that the company plans on making available to its retail investors starting in early 2015. The firm also pledged to make a customizable version available to Schwab’s 7,000 Registered Investment Advisors—who collectively hold more than $1.25 trillion with the custodian—later in the year, according to Iris.
Advisors interested in attending the ETF Virtual Summit on Wednesday Jan. 21 can register here.