Elizabeth MacBride

Wake-up call: ETFs feel the heat of NASSA's exotics panel

Jim McTague: We're going to have to get used to volatility, like we have to get used to the fact there may be radiation in our water from Japan.

Barron's

Morgan Stanley

iShares

Elisha Tuki

Jim McTague

David Cassidy

Mark Carver

A look at the numbers shows that exchange traded funds are starting to move in lockstep with RIAs and vice-versa. RIAs invested $496 billion in ETFs in the 12-month period ended June 30, 2015 – that’s a $78 billion increase compared to the same period the year before. By comparison, the wirehouse channel added 20% fewer ETF assets, or $397 billion in the last year; granted, an amount that was $70 billion greater than its aggregate investment during the same 12-month period the year before, according to Broadridge Financial Solutions. RIAs that manage portfolios and make discretionary investment choices for their clients value ETFs because they provide advisors with easy access to market segments at a cheap price – an especially important factor for RIAs who are compensated on an asset-fee basis. Fee-based advisors appreciate ETFs’ tax efficiency, liquidity and broad exposure at low cost. Conversely, RIAs are a prized channel for ETF-makers like State Street, Invesco, PowerShares, Vanguard Group and BlackRock. ETFs are also a major ingredient in portfolios devised by robo-advisors -- essentially automated RIAs -- for the mass affluent who invest more than 90% of their assets using ETFs.

ETFs

Beloved for their stellar qualities by RIAs, they are nonetheless the casino chip du jour for many traders

Wake-up call: ETFs feel the heat of NASSA's exotics panel

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