This week asset managers took advantage of the summer lull by cleaning up their ETF ranges with a series of mergers and closures.
Leading the charge on this was UBS Asset Management, which announced it will wind up Credit Suisse’s Irish fund platform, merging seven existing strategies – housing $7.9bn assets combined – into newly-created ETFs on its own Irish platform on 26 August.
Elsewhere, issuers continued terminating out-of-favour China niches, with KraneShares delisting its China ESG leaders and healthcare products, while Global X closed its China biotech, clean energy and cloud computing ETFs on low demand.
The closures follow VanEck calling time of death on its actively managed smart home ETF at the end of last week, following low investor uptake.
New challengers mean business
ETF Stream revealed Dutch asset manager Robeco appointed ETF veteran Dorcas Phillips as head of ETF capital markets from Fidelity International.
The move comes ahead of the launch of the firm’s first ETF later this year and marks its second senior hire from Fidelity, after it appointed Nick King as head of ETFs last September.
Elsewhere, Cboe bolstered its ETF capabilities by hiring Hetal Patel as director of ETF listings after her departure from the London Stock Exchange in May.
Last year, Lida Eslami also departed the LSE in favour of a move to Cboe with the tole of head of ETPs for EMEA.
Another active giant looms
Signs of another active entrant on the horizon as ETF Stream revealed Jupiter Asset Management is planning its entry into the European ETFs market via white-label ETF provider HANetf.
The firm is expected to host an internal discussion group on its ETF plans in the coming weeks, though it is yet to file a product.
Jupiter AM’s launch plans come after mutual fund rival, Janus Henderson, entered the European ETF market in April by acquiring fixed income specialist Tabula Investment Management.
ETF Wrap is a weekly digest of the top stories on ETF Stream
