ETFs have grown at double-digit percentages every year this century, allowing investors to buy commodities such as gold, companies in an entire industry sector or vast swaths of the bond market as easily as trading a single stock. Global assets in exchange-traded products reached a record near-$3.7 trillion in January, according to industry researcher ETFGI.
‘Undue Costs’
Rules answering the SEC's concerns drafted by CBOE Holdings Inc.’s Bats exchange were approved in the notice posted on Wednesday, and a verdict could come soon on a proposal by the Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s NYSE Arca exchange, the largest listing venue for ETFs. Nasdaq Inc.’s revised listing standards have already been approved.
ETFs already have to meet requirements to be listed. But the latest changes specify the funds must meet those standards not just when they launch but also as long as they are trading.
The rules also bolster restrictions on trading firms or fund managers for setting the rules determining what stocks are in an index and calculating what the index is worth.
But one of the exchanges has reservations about the new standards.
"The continuing listing standards in their current proposed form may cause undue costs for fund managers as well as a negative impact for investors, without offering additional protections for the shareholders of the ETF," said Doug Yones, NYSE's head of exchange-traded products, in a statement to Reuters.
Nasdaq and Bats declined to comment.
In its notice, the SEC dismissed industry concerns, writing that the absence of ongoing standards is a "gap" in regulation. The agency, which in 1992 first approved exceptions to U.S. law that allowed ETFs to trade, has been conducting a broad review of the industry.
The rules are aimed at achieving the same goals as the requirements applied before funds start trading, including ensuring the products "are not susceptible to manipulation and maintaining fair and orderly markets," the SEC wrote.