The year 2020 has been one for the record books. Not only have we had to learn how to operate in a new normal of schooling and working from home, but we have finally seen the first of the semi-transparent ETF models that were approved in 2019. The launch came in the middle of a volatile market during a pandemic, bringing the total to twelve semi-transparent ETFs representing four of the approved methodologies on the markets. Although the NYSE Actively Managed Solution model is currently being utilized by American Century, it was Natixis Advisors in partnership with NYSE that helped lay the foundation for one of the four proxy portfolio methodologies to be approved in 2019. Recently, we sat down with Nick Elward, SVP, Head of Institutional Product and ETFs of Natixis Investment Managers for a two-part blog.  

Asset managers are fortunate to have a number of fund structures to choose from to launch their various strategies, either within active or passive constructs. As ETFs have gained in popularity with investors for their low cost, tax-efficient, transparent and tradeable structures, asset managers have increasingly concentrated on the ETF wrapper for their new product launches. While the basic blocking and tackling of ETF management is very similar to other fund structures, managing a product that simultaneously trades on a listed exchange presents many new challenges for asset managers that may require additional expertise.