Many exchange traded funds that can be considered highly focused or niche products sport annual fees that are higher than their plain vanilla counterparts. At least the PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF (NYSEArca: HACK) is doing something about that.
HACK’s annual fee is now 0.6%, down from 0.75%. That new fee went into effect on May 1st.
“Since May 1, there have been net positive flows of approximately $160 mm into HACK,” said ETF Managers Group (ETFMG) in a statement. “The net flows over this period constitute around 42% of the $376.8 mm net positive flows into the Fund this year. HACK’s assets under management as of 06/09/2017 are $1,110,056,395.”
HACK benchmarks to the ISE Cyber Security Index, “which tracks the performance of companies actively engaged in providing services for cyber security and for which cyber security business activities are a key driver of their business model. These cyber security services are designed to protect computer hardware, software, networks and data from unauthorized access, vulnerabilities, attacks and other security breaches,” according to PureFunds.
While HACK is not a traditional tech ETF, there is no denying the ETF’s validity and long-term potential. Each year cyber security incidents cost the global economy $400 billion and the rate of such incidents has been growing at a compound annual growth rate of 66% since 2009, according to PureFunds data.
The ETF debuted in 2014 as the first ETF dedicated to cyber security stocks.
“The Board decided to reduce the management fee for HACK based on its asset level, internal costs and in consideration of the overall fee compression across the ETF market. It’s a comprehensive review process, and we believe HACK’s fee of 60 basis points is very reasonable based on the fund’s exposure,” said ETFMG CEO Samuel Masucci in the statement.