In an extremely crowded field of exchange-traded funds, issuers are looking for any reason to stand out, including changing a name and ticker symbol.
On July 9, VanEck changed the name of its 12-year-old VanEck Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF (GEX) to VanEck Vectors Low Carbon Energy ETF (SMOG), saying the rebranded name and ticker more fully reflect new terminology in the industry.
Brandon Rakszawski, director of ETF product development at VanEck, says with the global discussion around climate change and low-carbon footprints, terms like alternative energy have evolved to renewable, clean or green energy.
“There is more focus on the space from both a political and economic perspective, as well as an investing perspective,” he says.
The fund’s underlying index, Ardour Global Index Extra Liquid, remains unchanged. The index lists companies involved in environmentally friendly, renewable power production such as wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and bio-fuels as well as the related technologies used to support this power production.
VanEck isn’t the only issuer of late to change ETF names and tickers. State Street Global Advisors recently tweaked the names and created new ticker symbols for six SPDR ETFs to reflect S&P Global’s acquisition of Kensho Technologies. For example, the SPDR Kensho Final Frontiers ETF (XKFF) is now the SPDR S&P Kensho Final Frontiers ETF (ROKT).
A new name and a catchy new ticker symbol may spur renewed attention for an older fund, but whether that helps attract new fund flows is iffy.
A few years ago, EventShares shuttered its political policy-themed ETFs, the Democratic Policies Fund (DEMS) and Republican Policies Fund (GOP). It then took an existing ETF, the U.S. Tax Reform Fund (TAXR), rolled together the themes from GOP, DEMS and TAXR and rechristened it the EventShares U.S. Policy Alpha ETF (PLCY). PLCY is an actively managed, total-market fund that looks for changes in U.S. government regulations, trade policies and fiscal spending as a basis for the companies it invests in.
It debuted in October 2017 and has $19 million in assets and a net expense ratio of 0.85 percent. Its one-year annualized return is 2 percent and year to date it is up 17.3 percent, which trails by roughly four basis points the year-to-date return on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY).
But that change in fund name and focus had only a mild impact on attracting assets. According to data from Ycharts, as of June 30 PLCY saw an increase of $2.8 million in flows over a one-year period.