The Investment Association (IA) has today opened a consultation on the possible inclusion of ETFs within the IA's fund sectors. Following the growth in supply of ETFs in recent months, there is an opportunity for over 200 ETFs to be included within the 37 existing IA fund sectors.
What does this mean? The IA's fund sectors enable savers and their investors to compare open ended funds depending on a variety of factors. These include asset classes, investment strategy and geography. If ETFs are to be introduced, the users will have access to compare the after-fees performance of the ETF with its active counterpart.
The IA's service enables investment managers to provide efficient support to its customers. This development means the IA's 240 members, which actively manage a total of £6.9tn in assets, have access to track the ETF data and compare it to the performance of active funds.
To be included, the ETFs must be UK domiciled or are EU UCITS with HMRC reporting fund status.
Galina Dimitrova, Director of Investment and Capital Markets at the IA said: "We are continually monitoring the fund market to ensure that the IA sectors reflect the wide range of products the asset management industry has to offer savers. The primary purpose of the IA sectors is to serve the needs of consumers and their advisers and the addition of ETFs must be done in their best interests."
The consultation, which encourages comments on the possible inclusion of ETFs in the IA sectors, closes 1 February 2019.
