Steve Hawkins, President and co-CEO, Horizons ETFs, doesn't mince words when it comes to the future of the financial industry, of the rise of ETFs, and of the fate of the mutual fund industry.
"People are really starting to become aware over the past 5, 10 years, that fees matter and ultimately affect their investment outcomes and goals. ETFs are a completely new and disruptive technology that is really taking a bite out of the mutual funds," says Hawkins. "I think ultimately mutual funds are going to be dead. We're an ETF only product producer, we believe ETFs are the way of the future, and mutual funds are not going to be here."
Our discussion continues as we discuss the new proposed legislation that means to do away with embedded commissions (DSC charges), as well as other regulation that has come into power in the last 5 years.
"[Regulation] is another driving force for why ETF sales are going to continue to escalate. We've had over 20% compound growth in the ETF industry, on a year over year basis, the last 5 years," said Hawkins.
Following on the successful of last year's launch of the first indexed Marijuana ETF, Hawkins talks about some of the innovative ETFs his company has brought to market this year.
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