People Moves
BlackRock Loses Global Head Of ETF Research
Deborah Fuhr, global head of exchange-traded funds research at BlackRock and one of the world’s top experts in the field, is leaving the company, a spokesperson for the asset manager has confirmed.
The company’s research will be handed over to the BlackRock Investment Institute, which was set up in April. This means that founding member Russ Koesteric, global chief investment strategist of the firm’s ETF platform iShares, will be heavily involved in defining the ETF research agenda.
It is unclear what Furh will be doing next. She previously worked with ETFs at Morgan Stanley for 11 years before joining Barclays Global Investors in September 2008, which was acquired by BlackRock a year later.
BlackRock says it will continue to publish research under the ETF Landscape brand, but will be trying to offer deeper insights, analysis and commentary.
In May, strong ETF inflows helped BlackRock to the top of the leader board in terms of group sales in European funds, with trades of €3 billion ($4.3 billion), according to a monthly snapshot of trends in the market from Lipper Fund Management.
In the first quarter of 2011, iShares grew $34.2 billion to $624.4 billion, the firm reported.
ETFs have been under fire lately, as commentators have argued that the increasing complexity and profusion of the products causes some of them to not live up to client expectations. Earlier this summer, the UK's Financial Services Authority criticised providers for not properly explaining the risks ETFs entail.
Some observers have even suggested a link between ETFs and the “flash crash” in May last year, when 70 per cent of all cancelled trades were reported to be ETFs.
Tom Stevenson from Fidelity International says that ETFs can be a potential minefield for the average investor and imperil overall market stability. He argues that they are best left to sophisticated investors with an understanding of the operation and risks of the product.
At the same time, many also claim they offer genuine benefits to investors, as they are cheap and tax efficient.
