It’s official. Everybody’s doing it.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management has launched its first exchange traded fund in attempt to grab assets in the growing strategy’s space, reports the Financial Times. Retail and institutional investors alike are pouring money into ETFs, as a cheap and easy option for tracking a market. GSAM’s first ETF launched with $50 million and tracks the Goldman “ActiveBeta” index, which weighs equities according to value, earnings, and volatility. The firm plans to launch similar products “in the coming months.”
“Our clients asked us to apply our investment expertise to exchange traded funds,” Michael Crinieri, GSAM’s global head of ETF strategies, said in a statement.
Moody’s has called this “smart beta”-ETF space “the next battleground for asset management dollars.” The ratings agency says that it expects the biggest passive asset managers and the most innovative managers to be the winners.
Earlier this month OppenheimerFunds acquired VTL Associates to break into the ETF space. Legg Mason bought QS Investors last year, and Franklin Templeton is also eyeing the space. The multi-boutique Legg Mason requested regulator approval for its first four ETFs earlier this month.
According to ETFGI, ETFs posted net inflows of $219.7 billion globally during the first eight months of 2015, a 16% increase from the same period in 2014.
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