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 . hedge 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 publicly traded managed funds , which also seeks to keep holdings out of the public eye . this has long been part of the appeal of ETFs , but as the low - cost investment vehicles attract more and more cash flow , hedge funds have begun to design investment strategies based on pricing discrepancies or structural weaknesses in ETFs , as we reported in early October . 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 .