The co-founder of HANetf says its appointment of BNY Mellon as its asset servicing partner provides "further validation" of his company's plan to facilitate new providers entering the ETF space via the launch of white-labels.
In a deal announced on Monday, BNY Mellon will provide custody, administration and trustee services to HANetf which plans to launch a Dublin-domiciled platform later this year.
Speaking to ETF Stream, Nik Bienkowski said it was important for HANetf's prospective clients that it partnered with the "best possible technology and most credible service providers".
"BNY Mellon are the largest custodian and asset administrator globally, and with the best credit rating among the potential providers, we are extremely happy to be working with them," he added.
HANetf was launched last year and saw a recent seed funding round over-subscribed. Founded by Bienkowski and fellow ETF entrepreneur Hector McNeil, the company hopes to be announcing its first clients by the end of the first half of this year.
Bienkowski, who was at Inside ETFs 2018 last week in Florida, said it had many conversations last week with US providers who were "actively looking outside of their domestic market for future growth opportunities."
"With European ETF markets expanding by over 40% in 2017 and reaching record asset highs, we know that US issuers of all sizes are looking closely at Europe, developing their entry strategies and identifying the partners like HANetf who can help them gain long-term success."
Jeff McCarthy, chief executive of exchange traded products at BNY Mellon, echoed Bienkowski's point about the European opportunity.
"The European ETF industry is gaining significant momentum and we are seeing increasing numbers of established asset managers seeking a quick and easy way to get into the ETF space," he said. "HANetf's timing is good - with our support, they are very well positioned to meet that burgeoning demand."
