Is the fund management industry about to kill the goose that lays its golden eggs?

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are rapidly taking off in the UK, where 29 commodity-related funds were launched on the London Stock Exchange this week. The UK does not come close to matching the profusion of ETFs in the US, where more than $300bn is invested in more than 300 ETFs. But judging by the beady gleam in the eye of fund managers such as Barclays Global Investors, they have plans to do much the same thing here.