That features, he notes, experience on different commodities. It additionally contains core different methods and segments of the market the place they might presumably drive some outsized return for buyers. It even includes wading into the US fairness ETF area, an space with a heavy saturation of selection already on the market. He notes the latest rent of Samarjit Mitter as a senior portfolio supervisor as one of many key steps they’ve taken in the direction of differentiation within the US fairness ETF area. Mitter, Cheong explains, was beforehand a portfolio supervisor with AGF, the place he was accountable for the agency’s US Small & Mid Cap Fund, which had been the highest performer in its class in 2024. Including that experience, Cheong notes, is crucial to gaining traction within the Canadian ETF market.
Cheong can be keenly conscious of the options which have tended to resonate with Canadian buyers and advisors. He highlights yield, transparency, and tax-efficiency as traits that many Canadians search of their funding funds and one thing that he expects will resonate amongst ETF buyers. He additionally notes a number of the areas the place Ninepoint will probably not be constructing out ETFs. Particularly, the closely saturated low-fee index monitoring market.
One of many causes Cheong was drawn to Ninepoint, he says, is the agency’s extra versatile and flat construction. He prefers to function in much less inflexible environments, he says, and the tradition at Ninepoint match along with his tendency to choose an ‘entrepreneurial’ ambiance. That flexibility, he says, must also encourage higher innovation in the best way his agency leverages their experience to launch and market ETF methods.
Cheong’s new function comes with a major aim, taking Ninepoint’s ETF AUM from $500 million to between $2 and $2.5 billion over the subsequent three to 5 years. Along with technique launches and thought management, Cheong says that his agency will start leveraging new types of media to market themselves. Along with their established relationships within the advisor channel they may also look extra carefully at DIY buyers, who are inclined to choose shopping for ETFs.
Regardless of a market with extra ETF merchandise per greenback of belongings than in the US, Cheong nonetheless believes there’s room to develop in Canada. He notes that the Canadian trade stays fairly “high heavy” with just a few gamers dominating market share. He thinks that offers smaller ETF retailers like Ninepoint room to develop, particularly as they discover market segments that stay underpenetrated. They need to additionally profit, he says, from the natural development of the trade which is about to succeed in $1 trillion in belongings by 2032. As he appears to be like to seize extra of that development, Cheong believes he’s now at an ideally positioned agency.
