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Goldman Sachs helps its clients launch ETFs

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Redefining "active" investing... and how it comes to market

Investor demand for exchange-traded funds is not slowing down, and firms without ETF offerings may risk losing business, according to one Goldman Sachs expert. 

Steve Sachs, global chief operating officer of Goldman’s ETF Accelerator, notes that despite the time and resources required to launch an ETF, not offering current and new investment strategies as ETFs may prove even more costly.

“Any number of our clients would tell you, the opportunity cost of not [offering ETF products] is greater,” he recently told CNBC’s “ETF Edge.”

If a firm does not have ETF offerings, Sachs thinks “eventually those assets are going to leave and go to a competitor that does.”

To help clients through the process of launching their own ETF products, Goldman Sachs created its ETF Accelerator, a digital platform that helps clients launch, list and manage their own ETF products. The accelerator launched in 2022 in response to what Sachs described as significant client demand.

“Our core institutional clients were calling and asking, ‘How do we get into this ETF space? How do we deliver our strategy, active and otherwise, in an ETF wrapper?'” he said.

According to Sachs, client inquiries about launching ETFs surged following the passage of SEC Rule 6c-11 in 2019, which intended to help these funds launch more efficiently.  

“While we wouldn’t call that a big boom, it was certainly a catalyst. The idea was it made it easier to launch an ETF, but it didn’t make it easy,” Sachs said. “At one point, we had more than 41 clients that had called us with exactly the same problem: ‘How do I do this, how do I move quickly and can you help us?'”

It can still take years to build the expertise, headcount and risk management framework necessary to launch an ETF, said Sachs. That is where Goldman’s accelerator platform aims to help.

“[It] allows our clients to come in, launch, list and manage their own ETF — but do it off of the technology, infrastructure and risk management expertise that Goldman’s known for and essentially get to market faster and cheaper than they could do it on their own,” Sachs said.

Since its inception, the accelerator has facilitated the launch of five ETFs. The most recent is Eagle Capital Management’s Select Equity ETF (EAGL), which listed last week

Other ETFs launched through the accelerator include GMO’s U.S. Quality ETF (QLTY) and three funds from Brandes Investment Partners: the Brandes Small-Mid Cap Value ETF (BSMC), U.S. Value ETF (BUSA) and International ETF (BINV).

“GMO, Brandes [and] Eagle Capital all felt that the journey to build it on their own would be too expensive and too long,” Sachs said. They didn’t want to miss the opportunity cost of not delivering their investment strategies in the wrapper.”

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NVO, HMC, XRX, TSLA and more

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India may have fastest growing e-commerce sector

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India: the "perfect" emerging market

Investors may want to consider adding exposure to the world’s second-largest emerging market.

According to EMQQ Global founder Kevin Carter, India’s technology sector is extremely attractive right now.

“It’s the tip of the spear of growth [in e-commerce] … not just in emerging markets, but on the planet,” Carter told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. 

His firm is behind the INQQ The India Internet ETF, which was launched in 2022. The India Internet ETF is up almost 21% so far this year, as of Friday’s close.

‘DoorDash of India’

One of Carter’s top plays is Zomato, which he calls “the DoorDash of India.” Zomato stock is up 128% this year.

“One of the reasons Zomato has done so well this year is because the quick commerce business blanket has exceeded expectations,” Carter said. “It now looks like it’s going to be the biggest business at Zomato.”

Carter noted his bullishness comes from a population that is just starting to go online.

“They’re getting their first-ever computer today basically,” he said, “You’re giving billions of people super computers in their pocket internet access.”

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How the Federal Reserve’s rate policy affects mortgages

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The Federal Reserve lowered its interest rate target three times in 2024.

This has many Americans waiting for mortgage rates to fall. But that may not happen for some time.

“I think the best case scenario is we’re going to continue to see mortgage rates hover around six and a half to 7%,” said Jordan Jackson, a global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. “So unfortunately for those homeowners who are looking for a bit of a reprieve on the mortgage rate side, that may not come to fruition,” Jordan said in an interview with CNBC.

Mortgage rates can be influenced by Fed policy. But the rates are more closely tied to long-term borrowing rates for government debt. The 10-year Treasury note yield has been increasing in recent months as investors consider more expansionary fiscal policies that may come from Washington in 2025. This, combined with signals sent from the market for mortgage-backed securities, determine the rates issued within new mortgages.

Economists at Fannie Mae say the Fed’s management of its mortgage-backed securities portfolio may contribute to today’s mortgage rates.

In the pandemic, the Fed bought huge amounts of assets, including mortgage-backed securities, to adjust demand and supply dynamics within the bond market. Economists also refer to the technique as “quantitative easing.”

Quantitative easing can reduce the spread between mortgage rates and Treasury yields, which leads to cheaper loan terms for home buyers. It can also provide opportunities for owners looking to refinance their mortgages. The Fed’s use of this technique in the pandemic brought mortgages rates to record lows in 2021.

“They were extra aggressive in 2021 with buying mortgage-backed securities. So, the [quantitative easing] was probably ill-advised at the time.” said Matthew Graham, COO of Mortgage News Daily.

In 2022, the Federal Reserve kicked off plans to reduce the balance of its holdings, primarily by allowing those assets to mature and “roll-off” of its balance sheet. This process is known as “quantitative tightening,” and it may add upward pressure on the spread between mortgage rates and Treasury yields.

“I think that’s one of the reasons the mortgage rates are still going in the wrong direction from the Federal Reserve’s standpoint,” said George Calhoun, director of the Hanlon Financial Systems Center at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Watch the video above to learn how the Fed’s decisions affect mortgage rates.

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