ETF Leaders Powered by the NYSE: Michael Giuliano

Explaining his focus areas for 2022, Giuliano explains Putnam’s plans, starting with education. A big part of their mission is to educate their clients on how significant the active ETF space is. As an issue with four semi-transparent active ETFs, Putnam must communicate how those products fit into the broader active ETF marketplace.

“There are $300 billion in active ETFs, and the space has been around for years. So helping bridge that mental gap is really important for us,” Giuliano adds.

In relation to this year’s ESG movement, Guiliano notes that Putnam believes in ESG as a long-term secular trend. The biggest aspect for Putnam is that it needs to impact client portfolios positively. For Guiliano, he’s paying close attention to product launches and repositionings.

“It’s really exciting. Managers are launching ever more specific products that address specific client solutions, and that’s helping allocators build holistic, sustainable portfolios, and we think that’s really going to accelerate uptake from a client perspective.”

Recorded during Exchange: An ETF Experience 2022, as far as what the word was from advisors, Guiliano states how he felt the biggest thing from both advisors and home offices is that there’s been a historical perspective that active strategies live on one end, while ETFs live separately. This is where bridging that gap becomes essential for Putnam.

“We’re asking a lot of the home offices to rethink how they oversee their product shelves. They’re really excited about where they’re going to land with a vehicle agnostic, more consolidated approach that better uses their resources. But, it’s asking a lot.”

This will require Putnam and other issuers telling the active+ ETF story at the financial advisor level and helping bring along the home offices.

As far as excitement for ESG goes, Guiliano has been hearing a lot of it from advisors. There are different rates of adoption, but it’s clear that momentum has been building, which is exciting for Putnam as well.

“We only get excited about what our clients are excited about.”

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