Why Northern Trust Nixed the FlexShares Name
More than a few companies include “shares” in ETF product titles, and Northern Trust is among a few that have changed course.
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Changing the name of an ETF franchise after 15 years? Seems like kind of a flex.
Or maybe the opposite. Northern Trust recently scrapped the FlexShares branding from its line of exchange-traded funds, replacing it with the company’s name. In some ways, the change reflects the maturity of the ETF business, as the “shares” nomenclature has been ubiquitous since the early days, with asset managers using it to help differentiate the funds from their other investment products. BlackRock’s iShares, of course, is the prime example of that.
“Maybe it wasn’t clear back in 2010 what the future of ETFs would be,” said Dave Abner, head of global ETFs and funds at Northern Trust. “We’ve had the FlexShares brand for about 15 years now … It was great, but over the last few years, we’ve been going through a bit of a metamorphosis toward this ‘One Northern’ concept.”
Northern Exposure
The company isn’t the only one to recently align its ETFs with its broader corporate identity. Last year, State Street Investment Management added “State Street” to dozens of funds, in some cases removing the well-known “SPDR” from them. And there are a few examples of companies nixing “shares” from products. In 2018, Invesco got rid of its PowerShares branding in ETFs (it still uses BulletShares in its bond ETF suite). And earlier this year, Direxion killed off shares nomenclature from some of its ETFs. As to whether Kevin O’Leary (aka Mr. Wonderful) would ever consider revisions to his O’Shares funds branding, well, that’s anyone’s guess. And it’s possible that the GraniteShares name is set in stone.
What’s changed over the past two decades is the popularity of ETFs. The big names have gotten bigger, but smaller names are also starting to pull in a larger share of the industry’s flows, Abner said. “The concentration of the three or four larger issuers is at the lowest it’s ever been. There is a broader diversity of flows going to issuers than ever before,” said Abner, whom Northern Trust brought on board two years ago to goose its ETF business. “The ETF industry hit an inflection point in the growth curve.”
The company is also building out its line of ETFs:
- Last week, it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a US Gigawatt ETF and Rare Earth & Critical Metals ETF.
- It is also adding to its lines of bond-ladder ETFs, following 11 fund launches the company had last year.
The People Want More Names: “Investors are moving away from just a few ETF issuers, and they’re using more and more products that are specifically tailored for their portfolios,” Abner said.
