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Octopus to hire specialist, allaying ETF concerns

22 January 2010

Octopus Investments is to hire a specialist analyst of exchange traded funds (ETFs) to ensure that it is able to fully rationalise its passive fund holdings.

Speaking exclusively to What Investment.co.uk, chief investment officer Lothar Mentel explained that the investment manager never invests in anything without first conducted a full due diligence process, and, with more complicated products being launched, it was necessary to have a specialist.

He said, ‘There are big differences between ETF structures and we are concerned that a lot of investors don’t already do their due diligence. We are a fan of increased competition in the ETF market, because it helps with prices.

‘However, while excited about the fact that prices are going down, more complicated products require greater research effort so we are going to hire a specialist.’

Mentel has become the latest industry figure to warn that many investors continue to buy more complicated exchange traded products without fully understanding the risks and how each product works.

He added, ‘We never invest in anything that we don’t understand. If it is too complicated to get to the bottom of it, we would rather stay away. And yet, a lot of investors don’t understand how leveraged and short ETFs work.

‘They think they are shorting the market, but you can never do that for more than one day. If you do, the investment can perform very differently.’

Octopus invests predominantly in London listed ETFs although it does consider the overall market.

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