Institutional Investors Employing More ETF Strategies
Investors are finding new avenues to use exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and they want more options for active ETF, smart beta and fixed income products.
Institutional investors’ and advisers’ usage of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continues to evolve and the products are becoming a cornerstone of their portfolios, suggests a study by Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) and ETF.com.
The 2016 US ETF Investor Survey found one-third hold at least 11 ETFs in their portfolios. For the second year in a row, the largest number of respondents have six to 10 ETFs in their portfolios.
Ninety-seven percent of investors plan to maintain or add to their smart-beta positions next year. Minimum volatility (44%) and quality strategies (42%) are top priorities when selecting a smart-beta ETF.
Investors are looking for more options when it comes to ETFs with international fixed income and commodity exposure. For the third year in a row, more investors are looking for fixed income in actively-managed ETFs, the survey found. Sixty-seven percent of respondents stated that liquidity is an important concern for fixed income ETFs. In addition, nearly two-thirds of ETF investors would consider an ETF engaging in securities lending.
“Investors are finding new avenues to use ETFs, and they want more options for active ETF, smart beta and fixed income products,” says Shawn McNinch, Global Head of ETF Services at BBH. “This year’s survey demonstrated that investors are gaining comfort in employing factor based strategies through smart-beta ETFs and using these products to position their portfolios against volatility and uncertainty, often by reducing allocations to active and even traditional cap-weighted strategies.”
Thirty-seven percent of respondents stated that environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are important when selecting an ETF.
The survey also found 75% of investors are comfortable buying an active ETF with a track record of three years or less, and almost two out of three are comfortable with buying new passive ETFs in the first year.
“Investors’ outlook on ETFs suggests more willingness to use strategies with shorter track records, both for passive and active funds. For ETF issuers, these results support an increase in ETF product development and a focus on clearly defined distribution strategies in a competitive market,” says McNinch.
The 2016 survey polled 175 financial advisers and institutional investors. The full study report may be downloaded from www.bbh.com/etfsurvey.
Defined contribution plan sponsors should provide education in appropriate ways and at appropriate times to help participants understand not only how target-date funds work, but how to select the one that’s right for them.
Target-date funds (TDFs) are designed to take a holistic
approach to retirement investing by utilizing all of a participant’s assets within
a unified, evolving portfolio, but many investors are still not using these vehicles as they are intended to be used.
According to the latest “Participant Preferences in Target
Date Funds” study by Voya Investment Management, only 10% of participants
surveyed allocate all their recurring contributions into a single TDF. More
participants (11%) are actually only investing 1% to 10% of their contributions
into one or more TDFs, while another 10% invest 41% to 50% of their recurring
contributions into TDFs.
When asked why they use TDFs in this (suboptimal) way, the
top reason was to add to diversification (45%), suggesting that plan sponsors
may need to re-evaluate how they educate participants about the benefits and
features of TDFs.
Susan Viston, client portfolio manager with Voya’s multi-asset
strategies and solutions team, spoke with PLANSPONSOR to offer some tips.
First, she suggests identifying investors in the plan who are deviating from
investing all or most of their assets into a single TDFs, before meeting them
with targeted communication and educational materials.
She says plan sponsors should provide “clear and engaging
participant education and communication around the TDF to help participants
understand not only how they work, but how to select the one that’s right for
them.” She adds, “We’ve seen a lot of participants not using TDFs the way they
were intended, which we believe can lead to sub-optimal risk profiles and
sub-optimal retirement outcomes.”
Sponsors need to clearly explain
the benefits of having professionally-managed and diversified portfolios
that change asset allocation according to a participant’s age as they near
retirement. Viston suggests taking a multimedia approach. “You can’t just have
one campaign. Use different forums like videos in addition to brochures and
letters,” Viston says.
NEXT: TDF basics are
needed
Videos and other educational content should briefly explain
to participants how a plan sponsor evaluated different providers and why they believe their choice was the best option.
Here, sponsors can explain the importance of the series’ investments and the
way a TDF glide path is meant to function. Better understanding of these
vehicles could not only boost engagement, but also reinstate confidence in
investment decisions.
The survey found that self-proclaimed inexperienced
investors, who tended to be younger participants, were the least confident in
reaching retirement goals. “I’m a big proponent of multimedia because it’s a
way to engage these groups without overwhelming them with the paper materials
they’re receiving, or emails they might miss,” Viston says.
Toni Brown, senior defined contribution specialist with Capital
Group, recommends utilizing technology to deliver advice the moment
participants set their initial contributions online. She notes that a pop-up
window with brief information about TDF best practices could be set to appear
when a participant would make allocations that may seem rather odd, like
investing in several TDF vintages within a single series.
Viston notes that she’s found participants to invest in as
many as ten TDFs within a suite. “That shows a clear lack of understanding TDF
strategy,” Viston says. As Brown points out, the extra point of communication
may prompt investors to consider whether they truly want to make such a
decision.
NEXT: What’s working
for TDFs?
According to Voya’s survey, TDF users are more confident
about reaching retirement goals and making investment decisions than non-users.
More than 75% of respondents said that TDFs reduce the stress of retirement
planning, as opposed to 37% for non-users. Voya also found that TDF users
contribute a median 2% more of their income toward their accounts than
non-users (8% vs. 6%).
Furthermore, only 34% of non-users reported feeling
confident that they were making good investment decisions. This may offer plan
sponsors a key opportunity to boost participation levels by effectively
communicating the benefits of TDFs to participants across their plans.
“The challenges are inertia, procrastination, and behavioral
finance issues that can lead to poor decisions,” Viston says. “TDFs are
designed to overcome this, and we’ve seen that they have been able to do that
to the participant’s benefit. Participants have continued to contribute to
these funds even in times of market stress and decline, meaning they are not
selling at the wrong time.”
The survey, which is the third of its kind conducted since
2011, also found that “simplicity and convenience remain more important than
performance.” Auto-enrollment and auto-escalation features can further simplify
the process. The firm indicates that both features have become more accepted especially
among TDF users, with 76% saying that auto-enrollment would be helpful for employees
and 72% saying that auto-increases would be helpful.
Brown suggests that plan sponsors should take advantage of what
has been allowed by the 2006 Pension Protection Act (PPA) by offering TDFs as
qualified default investment alternatives (QDIA), while also utilizing
auto-enrollment, auto-escalation, and re-enrollment every three to five years.
She notes that auto features have been “effective in getting
a large number of people into a TDF that’s managed for them. Participants on
the whole appreciate it, and there is next to zero push back.”
Still, as Voya’s TDF allocation data has shown, increased
participation in TDFs doesn’t necessarily mean investors are using these
vehicles to the best of their ability, and there might be overconfidence in TDF use. Plan sponsors need to keep reaching out to TDF users to ensure
they are managing their savings effectively even as they near retirement.
“I think that while communication and education is great,
it’s not moving the needle as much as we would hope it would,” says Brown. “So,
it’s important for the plan sponsor to be very proactive and make sure that
employees not only become participants, but successful participants.”