Regulations on asset managers and financial advisers have increased in number and scope over the past 10 years. Much of which has been for the better.
New Design and Distribution Obligations (DDO) which came into effect on 5 October 2021 will change how many types of financial products, including ETFs, can be sold. Under the regulations, ETF Securities is both a product issuer (a company that builds funds) and a distributor (a company that sells funds). We understand our obligations under the new regulations. Which include the below.
What is DDO?
Put simply, it tries to make sure that fund managers are creating funds that are “fit for purpose” and built with investors’ interests in mind. It also tries to ensure that companies selling or recommending funds – including financial advisers, stockbrokers and wrap platforms – are accurately presenting them to investors.
DDO covers many types of financial products—not just funds. It also covers credit cards, insurance, some superannuation, home loans—and more. It was brought into being thanks to both the 2014 Financial System Inquiry and the Hayne Royal Commission. Both found that some financial products had been badly built and sold.
...
View Part 4 | Fees
Part 5 | Dividends
What are the best dividend ETFs to buy? How big is an ETF’s dividend? Are two questions we often hear.
Self-evidently, ETFs that buy dividend paying companies pay larger dividends than those that do not. But going beyond the obvious, and knowing in advance how big or small an ETFs’ dividend will be, is difficult. So too is knowing what the “best dividend ETF” is.
Still, for those set on using ETFs to generate dividends, below are some pointers.
...
This week's highlights
Short Nasdaq 100 fund SNAS was the week’s overall top performing fund, followed by short Australian equities fund BBOZ and short US fund BBUS. Energy companies ETF FUEL was the best performing unleveraged fund on the back of rising oil prices, followed by China fund CETF and global banks fund BNKS. Tech-heavy funds underperformed for the week, with RBTZ, SEMI, ROBO and ATEC all falling by more the 5% last week.
Precious metals were relatively stable for the week. Gold (GOLD) posted a small gain, while and silver (ETPMAG) declined by 2.7%. Oil fund OOO returned 2.5%.
Total reported flows into domestically domiciled ETFs were $456m, while outflows totalled just $13m. The largest inflows for the week were into cash fund AAA, with sustainability funds FAIR and ETHI also seeing significant flows. Gold mining fund MNRS saw the bulk of the week’s outflows.
VAS was the most traded fund for the week, followed by AAA and BBOZ. GEAR saw above average volumes.
...