Executives from the majority of U.S.-based ETF fund companies have agreed to join the National Exchange Traded Fund Association, or NETFA, which will announce its members in coming weeks, said Adam Patti, the association's vice chairman.
The goal of NETFA will be to address misinformation about ETFs, Patti said.
"It seems the industry has taken a lot of shots from different angles, and we believe there is a need for more education," said Patti, chief executive of Rye Brook, New York-based IndexIQ, which offers ETFs and mutual funds.
NETFA has named as its chairman John Hyland, chief executive of U.S. Commodity Funds LLC.
U.S. Commodity Funds runs the United States Oil ETF and the U.S. Natural Gas ETF, which have drawn regulatory scrutiny over concerns that they were distorting pricing of their respective energy markets.
While the Investment Company Institute, the Washington, D.C.-based trade group for the mutual fund industry, has a subcommittee dedicated to ETF issues, the National ETF Association believes ETF providers need their own group.
"We do hope to continue to work with the ICI," Patti said.
The ICI ETF Committee was established in 2008 and works with other trade groups. "We welcome NETFA's input to the ETF discussion," said James Ross, chairman of the subcommittee and head of State Street Global Advisors' ETF business.
(Reporting By Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Walden Siew)
