Navigating the ETF landscape

A key theme of ETF Summit 2019 on Oct. 1, 2019, which BMO was proud to sponsor, is that the ETF landscape has become very complex. No longer are ETFs limited to serving as passive vehicles tracking well-known indices. Today, ETFs allow advisors to give their clients precisely targeted passive, smart beta and active exposure – and, while that’s a tremendous benefit for clients, more choice also means more research and due diligence for advisors.

Responding to advisors’ need for clear, concise information about ETFs, BMO has created a series of short videos running less than five minutes each and focused on different areas of interest. Three of them are right here, ready to play. Get started with “How to Use ETFs,” a two-parter hosted by Erika Toth, a director of ETF distribution at BMO.

The first part covers smart beta ETFs – from more familiar low-volatility and quality strategies to innovations such as covered calls strategies that sell call options on half the portfolio to generate a stream of income distributed monthly to investors. Toth also highlights fixed-income ETF strategies, which can allow investors to pinpoint a very specific area of the bond market based on risk tolerance and portfolio objectives.

The second part discusses the benefits of a core-satellite approach that populates the core with passive ETFs tracking broad market indices and then hand-picks smart-beta or active ETFs for satellite exposure. Toth then looks at some of the actively managed ETF portfolios available to investors that take care of all aspects of day-to-day asset management.

A third video, “ETF pricing and liquidity,” hosted by Dan Stanley, also a director of ETF distribution at BMO, zeroes in on two areas where advisors often have many questions. Specifically, he describes the three layers of liquidity for ETFs that help ensure investors can get in and out of their ETF holdings even during volatile markets. Stanley also shares three ways advisors can manage liquidity concerns.

Find many more videos to help you navigate the ETF landscape and explain ETFs to your clients on the BMO ETF Dashboard.