Pimco Total Return Wins Top Capital Link Award

The best and brightest in ETF Land were honored in New York recently.

The Pimco Total Return ETF (BOND) captured the top prize at Capital Link’s annual ETF conference in New York recently. BOND won the award for Most Innovative Exchange-Traded Fund in 2012. The award was presented at the 12th annual Capital Link Closed-End Funds and Global ETFs Forum at the Metropolitan Club last month.

The awards are based on nominations by a committee of analysts and industry specialists who actively follow the products. Capital Link isn’t part of the nominating committee nor can members of the committee be candidates for the awards. Capital Link also gave out awards to the closed-end fund industry, but that doesn’t interest me.

iShares cleaned up by winning the rest of the slate. iShares and Blackrock, its parent company, won Best Shareholder Relations by an Exchange-Traded Product (ETP) Sponsor. This is award to the sponsor who practices the best financial disclosure and is proactive in shareholder communications. iShares/Blackrock also won Best Investor Relations Website in 2012.

The award for Most Innovative Index/Index-based ETF in 2012 went to iShares Morningstar Multi Asset Income Index Fund (IYLD)

Ed McRedmond, senior vice president of institutional and portfolio strategies at Invesco PowerShares, was awarded for “Contribution to the Exchange-Traded Fund Sector” for the third time. He also won in 2008 and 2009. This is given to the individual whose work contributed most to the ETF sector in the given year. McRedmond was also recognized a week earlier at the 9th Annual Global ETF Awards with an “ETP Icon of the Industry Award” for the second time. The ETP Icons of the Industry Awards recognizes individuals who have helped promote the development of the ETP marketplace.

“Investor education has always been our hallmark at Invesco PowerShares, ” said McRedmond in a written statement. “We strive to build relationships using multiple touch points to educate investors about the many beneficial ways ETFs can be used as portfolio tools. It’s truly an honor to be recognized with these awards by the many wonderful and talented people we work with each day to further the development of the ETP industry, and reflects the cumulative efforts of all my Invesco PowerShares colleagues.”

McRedmond, who joined Invesco PowerShares in 2005, works to increase the awareness and usage of ETFs by working with analysts, due-diligence groups and portfolio managers.

The analysis team at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney won the Best Research Analyst/Team for Exchange Traded Products in 2012 for the second year in a row. The team consists of Michael Jabara, David Perlman, and Stephen Minar.

Currency Hedge ETFs Win Big at Global ETF Awards

Deutsche Bank’s family of Currency Hedge ETFs won the award for the Most Innovative ETF in the Americas for 2011 at the 8th Annual Global ETF Awards. The awards are given to industry participants for outstanding achievements in the marketplace. In Europe Deutsche Bank tied with the Nomura Voltage Mid-Term Source ETF for the top prize, while the Motilal Oswal Most Shares NASDAQ-100 ETF was named most innovative in the Asia-Pacific region.

The five ETFs under the Currency Hedge banner:
db-X MSCI Brazil Currency-Hedged Equity Fund (DBBR)
db-X MSCI Canada Currency-Hedged Equity Fund (DBCN)
db-X MSCI EAFE Currency-Hedged Equity Fund (DBEF)
db-X MSCI Emerging Markets Currency-Hedged Equity Fund (DBEM)
db-X MSCI Japan Currency-Hedged Equity Fund (DBJP)

The Most Innovative Exchange Traded Product (ETP) in the Americas went to the iPath S&P 500 Dynamic VIX ETN (XVZ), while the db Physical Gold SGD Hedged ETC won in Europe.

Held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York last Thursday, the Global ETF Awards provide a window on how the global ETF industry views itself. Unlike the Capital Link awards, where a small committee of analysts and industry insiders choose the winners, the Global Awards is voted on by the entire ETF industry. Here 520 organizations from around the world voted on who they think are the industry’s leaders and innovators. The awards and ceremony were created and run by the operators of exchangetradedfunds.com.

The evening began with a new prize, the Nate Most Award. Named after the man who invented the SPDR, the first ETF, it’s awarded to the individual who has made the greatest contribution to the ETF Market.

“We honored to be able to celebrate Nate’s place as the father of the ETF and to honor achievements in the ETF industry,” said Arlene C. Reyes, chief operating officer of exchangetradedfunds.com.

The first winner of this new prize was James Rose, senior managing director of State Street Global Advisors, for his commitment to the industry and for setting a standard of excellence. In addition to running State Street’s ETF business he serves as the first chairman of the Investment Company Institute’s Exchange-Traded Funds Committee.

“Nate Most created a product that created an industry and a great product for investors,” said Ross upon receiving the award.

Here is the list of other winners:

Most Innovative ETF Index Provider
The Americas – Dow Jones Indexes
Europe – STOXX
Asia-Pacific – MSCI

Most Widely Utilized ETF Research (Statistical)
Deutsche Bank won in all three regions.

Most Widely Utilized ETF Research (Analytical)
The Americas – Bloomberg
Europe – Deutsche Bank
Asia-Pacific – Deutsche Bank

Best ETF Market Maker
The Americas – Knight
Europe – Flow Traders
Asia-Pacific – Flow Traders

Most Recognized ETF Brand
The Americas – SPDRs
Europe – (Tie) db x-trackers and iShares
Asia-Pacific – China 50 ETF

Best Service Provider
The Americas – BNY Mellon
Europe – (Tie) Northern Trust and State Street Fund Services (Ireland)
Asia-Pacific – SSgA

Most Informative Website
The Americas – SPDRS.com
Europe – etf.db.com
Asia-Pacific – hkex.com.hk

Most Informative Website – Media
The Americas – IndexUniverse.com

WisdomTree Wins Capital Link’s Top ETF Award

It’s award season again in ETF Land.

Capital Link held its 11th annual Closed-End Funds and Global ETFs Forum yesterday at its traditional home New York’s Metropolitan Club. During the conference Capital Link delivers awards to both the closed-end fund and ETF industries. However, I’m just listing the ETF awards. The awards are based on nominations by a committee of analysts and industry specialists who actively follow the products. Capital Link isn’t part of the nominating committee nor can members of the committee be candidates for the awards.

Capital Link’s award for Most Innovative ETF in 2011 went to the WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy Fund (WDTI).

iShares won two awards: Best Shareholder Relations for best financial disclosure and proactive shareholder communications and Best Investor Relations ETF Website for most informative and user friendly financial Website.

The Most Innovative Index went to the Russell-Axioma IS Large Cap Low Volatility Index (LVOL).

Jan Van Eck, the president of Market Vectors ETFs, won the award for biggest contribution to the ETF sector in 2011. No explanation of the contribution was given, but audience members suggested it was for killing the Holdrs products.

In the category of awards to ETF analysts, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney won for best research team in both the ETF and closed-end fund industries. The team consists of Michael Jabara, David Perlman and Stephen Minar. Mariana Bush of Wells Fargo Advisors won the award for the analyst who made the biggest contribution to the ETF sector last year. She also tied for contribution to the closed-end fund sector with Jon Maier of Bank of America Securities – Merrill Lynch.

Notes from the Capital Link Conference

• Morgan Stanley’s Dominic Maister, winner of the 2009 award for contribution to the ETF sector award and head of the Best ETF Research Team, moderated the ETF Roundtable. Maister says ETF assets grew 47% in 2009. Of that total asset growth, 50%, or $120 million, comes from net cash inflows. The other half from increased valuations. Equity ETFs see $30 billion in net inflows, while equity mutual funds see $9 billion in net outflow.
• State Street Global Advisors’ director of ETF global capital markets, says the main driver of ETF growth the last few years was fixed income ETFs. From six fixed income ETFs in 2006 to 92 today. This has led to significant growth of full-service dealers using ETFs in portfolio models. Only 14% of institutional investors use ETFs, but they make up 50% of the assets. This would appear to mean there’s lot of growth potential left among institutions. Quigg said, “Institutions see ETFs as an investment tool, not a choice, and use ETFs to solve problems.” He said this usage will increase over the next 5 to 10 years.
• Gabriel Hammond, the chairman and founder of Alerian, the index provider for the J.P. Morgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (AMJ). MLP stands for master limited partnerships, a company with a different tax structure than a public corporation. These often focus on the energy and oil sector. He says the big advantage ETFs have over closed-end funds is their liquidity and transparency. Probably most important, investors could pay up to 200 basis points more than an ETF to own the top ten holdings in the MLP space in an closed-end fund.

Capital Link Gives Index IQ Top Awards

Index IQ won the top awards at Capital Link’s 9th Annual Closed-End Funds and Global ETFs Forum Wednesday in New York.

In the elite Metropolitan Club overlooking Central Park, about 900 people came to listen to industry insiders give their view of the industry today.

“Lack of clarity on what an ETF remains a big issue in the industry,” said Deborah Fuhr, BlackRock’s global head of ETF research and implementation strategy, who gave the conference’s State of the Industry address. She said calling all exchange-traded products ETFs creates confusion among investors and things need to be given specific names so that people know what they are buying. “There should be clarity. Classification is important for tax regulations, which can have an impact on the use of an ETF.”

Among the seven awards given out by Capital Link, Index IQ’s IQ Hedge Multi Strategy Tracker (QAI) won Most Innovative ETF in 2009. It’s tracking index, the firm’s IQ Hedge Multi Strategy Index, won Most Innovative Index. IShares took awards for Best Shareholder Relations and Best Investor Relations ETF Website. Michelle Fuller of State Street Global Advisors won the award for making the biggest contribution to the ETF sector in 2009. The award ceremony neglected to say exactly what her contribution was.

Morgan Stanley won the award for the Best Research Team for ETFs in 2009. Dominic Maister, the executive director of Morgan’s team, won the award for the analyst who made the best contribution to the ETF sector last year.

The Capital Link awards are chosen by a nominating committiee of 14 industry insiders and analysts.