Pictet Snags Goldman VP to Get New US ETFs Going
Pictet Asset Management, which oversees $800 billion, recently launched three ETFs that lean on AI, with plans to add two emerging markets strategies early next year.
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Geneva-based Pictet Group is bringing its investment chops to the US ETF market, launching three products and hiring a Goldman Sachs vice president to build out distribution among RIAs.
Pictet Asset Management’s US funds, which lean on AI and thematic strategies, started trading Oct. 15. Although the company has long covered the US market and has managed pension assets and been a subadvisor, the ETFs are the first widely available investments in the country in Pictet’s 220-year history.
“Our clients are asking for them,” Pictet Asset Management CEO Elizabeth Dillon said. “ETFs are the vehicle of choice right now. Everyone wants ETFs.”
Let the Right One In
Of course, asset managers very much want in on the US ETF market, and numerous companies that waited for years have recently added their first such products. It’s an increasingly crowded space, making distribution strategies more important than ever. Just after its first three US ETFs launched, Pictet announced that it hired former Goldman Sachs Asset Management ETF specialist Benjamin Becker as its head of US ETF distribution.
“Our go-to-market strategy has very much to do with Ben Becker and the reason we hired him, which is to grow the ETFs via the RIA segment, which he will be leading,” Dillon said. Wirehouse distribution will be important, but firms may require performance histories and higher assets under management, she noted. Along with the three funds that launched, Pictet has two others planned to go live in the first quarter of 2026: the Emerging Markets Rising Economies ETF (RISE) and Emerging Markets Debt ETF (EMFI).
The ETFs at a glance:
- Pictet AI Enhanced International Equity ETF (PQNT), which uses a “factor-neutral AI model,” according to the firm.
- Pictet Cleaner Planet ETF (PCLN), which will invest in sectors “from efficient supply chain to smart grids to digital enablers.”
- Pictet AI & Automation ETF (PBOT) “provides disciplined, research-driven exposure to companies positioned to benefit from the ongoing adoption of AI and automation technologies … while avoiding momentum-driven investing pitfalls.”
New, to You: All of the ETF strategies are related to existing ones at Pictet, such as the megatrends and thematic franchises that are part of the company’s $800 billion assets-under-management global business. “There’s such a long history and presence of these strategies,” Dillon said. “We’re the OGs of themes.”
