The wealth management industry, which has been long chided for its alphabet soup of designations and certifications, is homing in on the exchange-traded fund space with a new ETFs & Portfolio Construction Certificate Program.
The collaborative effort between the College for Financial Planning and BlackRock might seem a little late considering that the first ETF hit the market more than three decades ago. But a professional educational program seems well-timed, given ETFs’ rising popularity and growing use by financial advisors.
In 2024, ETF assets in the United States crested the $10 trillion mark, representing a fivefold increase over the past decade. Even though that increase in total assets includes market appreciation, the growth trajectory is like nothing the financial services industry has seen.
According to etf.com data, there are now more than 4,000 ETFs trading in the U.S., a total bolstered by a record 650 ETF debuts last year, which beat the previous year’s record for launches by 150 ETFs.
But the number of ETFs and swelling assets only show partly how and why ETF investing is evolving well past commonplace portfolio allocations.
“Product complexity has exploded,” said Aniket Ullal, ETF analyst at CFRA.
“In 2024, over 40% of the ETFs listed in the U.S. used derivatives,” he added. “We have seen new categories like buffer ETFs and single-stock leveraged products emerge.”
The new certificate program is designed to equip financial advisors with resources and tools to have more informed conversations around the opportunity that ETFs might bring to their clients’ portfolios, according to the announcement.
The program covers an understanding of ETF fundamentals, highlights the global trends transforming the industry, and how ETFs can be used to develop a broad range of diversified investment portfolios that pursue client needs. The on-demand course is available through the College’s learning platform. Students have up to 120 days to complete it.
“ETFs have revolutionized how investors build portfolios and have increasingly become the preferred vehicle for many,” said Daniel Prince, U.S. head of iShares product consulting at BlackRock in a statement.
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