US asset managers plan to boost ETF sales teams

The recent boom in exchange traded fund product development is prompting some asset managers to increase the number of ETF specialists on their sales and distribution teams.

Victory Capital, for example, plans to roll out more ETFs this year and, as a result, beef up its sales force, David Brown, chair and chief executive officer, said during an earnings call with analysts last month.

“Our ETF sales force is really part of our existing retail and intermediary sales force,” he said. “So, that’s something that we started in 2023 and will continue to build out in 2024 . . . all of our salespeople out in the field have the ability to talk about ETFs and to sell ETFs.”

Brown did not specify what types of roles and how many positions the company plans to add during the call.

This article was previously published by Ignites, a title owned by the FT Group.

A company spokesperson declined to comment beyond what Brown said during the call.

Victory’s suite of 26 US ETFs had a total of $7.6bn in assets as of February 29, Morningstar Direct data shows.

Since T Rowe Price started to expand its ETF offerings, the company has hired more ETF specialists to work closely with the distribution team “in terms of providing education, assisting in content, development and delivery”, said Tim Coyne, the manager’s global head of ETFs.

The company was in the process of looking for an ETF sales specialist who was both a “subject matter” and “direct sales” expert, he said.

The firm had eight positions focused on “ETF sales and specialist delivery”, a company spokesperson said.

At T Rowe Price, specialists wore “a lot of different hats”, which included regularly engaging with divisional sales managers across teams and assisting in sales calls, Coyne said.

“We do a lot of . . . as an example, video shoots, and just kind of take a topic and do a deeper dive on something,” including product launches, he said.

“This team is working very closely with our distribution teams, developing content working with the marketing team . . . and engaging directly with clients,” Coyne said.

T Rowe’s suite of 15 US ETFs had $3.1bn in assets as of February 29, Morningstar data shows.

Asset managers employ an average of eight investment specialists and client portfolio managers, according to a Fuse Research report from January.

A quarter of shops surveyed plan to add more of these specialists throughout the year, the data shows.

Capital Group just wrapped up a round of hiring and added more specialists, marketers and capital markets roles, said Scott Davis, head of ETFs for the firm.

The company hired more than 20 people.

Capital Group employed ETF specialists who were considered salespeople that worked alongside wealth management consultants, who were wholesalers, Davis said.

The specialists “bring that level of expertise directly to an adviser meeting or a leveraged meeting . . . oftentimes we have meetings with groups of advisers and help them understand the structure and what [Capital Group] offers,” he said. “That’s part of our commitment to the long-term growth of our ETF business is the investment in these people.”

Capital Group’s suite of 14 US ETFs had $22.8bn in assets as of Feb 29, Morningstar data shows.

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WisdomTree had always employed specialists who covered asset classes and products, including fixed income, equities and commodities, as well as models, said Joe Grogan, head of distribution for the Americas.

These specialists have always had a generalist approach, because WisdomTree is primarily an ETF manager.

The company employed about a dozen of these specialists, Grogan said.

“In the last decade, we’ve seen the specialists play a bigger part in the sales process,” he said.

WisdomTree’s ETFs had $75.8bn in assets as of February 29, Morningstar data shows.

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