The increasing popularity of ETFs has led to more broker/dealer competition for investor allocations. Commission-free trading has been an offering for many years for select ETFs at select platforms, but its become an essential offering for platforms to drum up business. (The ETF Fee War)
The so called fee war began with ETF issuers enticing investors with lower and lower expense ratios. A Fee War 2.0 of sorts has launched as those lows have been pressed to levels that test profitability and issuers are looking for more ways to differentiate. Now they’ve taken to the platforms and more and more ETFs are appearing with no commission fees to trade. All of this of course is great for investors and their returns.
Is it going to last? Tom sits down with Richard Messina, E*Trade’s Vice President of Investment Product Management, to discuss the way they’ve adapted to investor demand and what’s in the pipeline.