Investing made easy turns ETF key
BlackRock Investment Management has taken out the inaugural Lonsec/Money Management Award for best exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider for 2013.
Lonsec said the win was underpinned by the company’s ETF ratings, breadth of coverage and commitment to secondary market support and investor education.
“As a pioneer and leading global manager in the global ETF market, BlackRock has significant scale, experience and resources for effectively managing and structuring ETFs both in Australia and abroad,” said Lonsec.
The award is significant as the Government removed barriers to fixed-income ETF products last year, making the full range of asset classes available to Australian retail investors.
BlackRock’s iShares ETF business operates with a singular focus, according to head of iShares Mark Oliver.
That focus centres on developing its people, service models and product range to help investors build better portfolios, he said.
“Product is one aspect of it but increasingly the focus is on what I can do with these products to build a better business,” said Oliver.
Oliver said any ETF provider’s recipe for success was in providing leadership in product, education and customer service.
“With both the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) and MySuper reforms really increasing investor and adviser attention on scalability, flexibility and delivering value, we really want to work closely with those professionals to help them build better portfolios,” he said.
iShares grew its market share from 19 to 29 per cent since it launched its Australian equities ETF in late 2010, according to Oliver. It passed AU$2 billion on the ASX last month, he said.
State Street was also nominated as a finalist, which its head of SPDR (Standard & Poor’s Depositary Receipts) ETFs Amanda Skelly put down to State Street’s aim to “hit on the key building blocks of an investor’s portfolio”.
The fact that 50 per cent of Australian investors had a State Street product was testament to the company’s long history of servicing the Australian market, she said.
Meanwhile, Vanguard Investments was able to leverage the scale it had as an index manager, according to Robyn Laidlaw, head of product and marketing, helping make it a finalist in the ETF provider category.
She said Vanguard was agnostic in its product strategy process and often offered the same fund as an ETF or index fund.
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