BlackRock Inc. is seeking approval for an untested kind of exchange-traded product as competition among providers heats up. BlackRock is the biggest provider by assets of exchange-traded funds, which hold a variety of securities and trade on an exchange like a stock. Most of the firm’s offerings track indexes, but BlackRock is making a renewed attempt to win Securities and Exchange Commission approval for products that are run by a...
In a filing to the US SEC, BlackRock has requested approval for actively-managed exchange-traded products that do not disclose their holdings on a daily basis. TheWall Street Journal suggests the move is a frontier for the industry, however, in July, Eaton Vance applied to regulators for permission to create and sell NextShares or exchange traded managed funds, which also aim to keep holdings out of the public eye. The SEC declined to comment on whether it had approved the request. We also reported yesterday that Eaton Vance, which has gained support from Columbia Threadneedle Investments and a number of other asset managers, has had to delay plans to issue NextShares while it awaits regulatory clearance.