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        From Sectors and Smart Beta to Fixed Income, SPDR Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) give you wide access to diverse investment opportunities. Find out more.

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        ETF Education

        Choosing the Right ETF to Meet Investors’ Goals An ETF Due Diligence Checklist

        • Selecting an ETF from the sizeable universe of more than 300 ETPs in the Australia alone can be time consuming and overwhelming.1 
        • Knowing what you own is an important investment principle — regardless of whether you are buying a share, managed fund, or ETF. 
        • Using this due diligence checklist to create a thorough framework for your analysis can help ensure that the ETFs you choose best meet your clients’ needs. 

        Evaluate the Index

        Do the index and/or fund objectives align with a client’s portfolio?

        Questions to Ask Why This is Important
        How long has the index existed? Even as new indices are constructed, the index provider’s tenure in the marketplace can indicate a measure of stability.
        Is the index concentrated in particular sectors, companies, or countries? Understanding an index’s focus allows you to pinpoint the exact exposure you need for a client’s portfolio.
        What is the index weighting methodology (market-capitalisation, price-weighted, fundamentally weighted, or equal-weighted)? Disparate index weighting methodologies can lead to differences in performance and risk/return characteristics among seemingly similar indexes.
        Does the index report holdings on a daily basis? The more frequently the index reports holdings, the greater the transparency, and the easier it is to determine how closely the ETF tracks its index.
        How often is the index rebalanced? If the index frequently adds and removes holdings, those decisions can impact funds that tightly track the index by changing market exposure and increasing trading costs, which reduces investors’ returns.

        Examine the Fund Provider

        Does the firm have a solid reputation in the ETF marketplace?

        Questions to Ask Why This is Important
        How experienced is the ETF provider in developing and managing ETFs? Large, well-established firms with a long ETF history may have an advantage in this evolving marketplace.
        What are the firm’s total assets under management (AUM) and total ETF AUM? Total assets indicate stability while high ETF assets further illustrate a commitment to the ETF marketplace.
        Does the firm enjoy good relationships with index providers and the advisor community? Solid industry relationships indicate that the ETF provider will not only support current funds, but continue to develop new products.
        How does the firm manage risk? A disciplined investment process, broad market expertise, and a powerful global investment platform can help manage risk in today’s uncertain market.
        Does the firm provide valuable trading support and ongoing education? In today’s dynamic ETF marketplace, expert trading support and actionable investment strategies can positively impact your bottom line.

        Examine the ETF’s Product Structure

        Does the fund’s structure help mitigate portfolio risks and promote liquidity?

        Questions to Ask Why This is Important
        How many shares or bonds are in the index and what are the fund’s diversification guidelines? A greater number of holdings means increased diversification benefits for the portfolio.
        What is the investment approach? Does the ETF hold everything in the index? Not all ETFs are created equal. ETFs can employ a full replication, optimisation-based, synthetic replication, or an active management approach to govern portfolio construction and trading decisions. These different approaches dictate how closely a fund tracks its index — and how well the fund suits a given portfolio.
        Does the firm enjoy good relationships with index providers and the advisor community? Solid industry relationships indicate that the ETF provider will not only support current funds, but continue to develop new products.
        What are the fund’s top holdings? Having a large portion of the fund invested in a handful of holdings can lead to concentration risk.
        Do the ETF’s holdings make sense in terms of the objectives of the fund? Unlike many of the straightforwardly named ETFs, others belie their name. Therefore it’s necessary to look beyond the fund’s name or the index it tracks and examine the underlying holdings to understand the fund’s risk/return profile and judge whether it adheres to its stated objective.
        Do the index’s holdings overlap significantly with existing strategies in the client’s portfolio? Significant portfolio overlap can leave your clients over-exposed to various sectors, companies, or issuers.
        Does the ETF follow a traditional market capitalisation weighting scheme or is it equal weighted? A market capitalisation weighting might be ideal for a broad market, energy, or financial services sector fund while an equal weighting that doesn’t allow large cap names to dominate the index might be better suited for a thematic ETF, like natural resources.
        What are the ETF’s assets under management? Significant assets illustrate investor interest and, although products’ break-even points vary, a commonly recognised asset level at which an ETF becomes sustainable is $50 million, a level not matched by all of today’s ETFs. Greater assets under management can also enhance a fund’s liquidity.  
        What is the regulatory designation of the ETF (unit investment trust, open-end fund, grantor trust, exchange traded note)? The different types of product structures used by ETFs can lead to differences in how the products are managed and taxed, as well as how they manage risk and promote liquidity in portfolios.
        If the ETF lends securities, what is the collateralisation process and how is risk managed? Income from securities lending could reduce fund expenses, and understanding the collateralisation process can help you assess potential risk.
        How well does the ETF track its benchmark? With an ETF that seeks to track the performance of an index, ideally, the fund should tightly track its index.
        What’s the difference over time between the fund’s return and the index’s return? An ETF’s historical performance does not necessarily indicate future results, but is still a factor to consider in choosing between similar ETFs. Similarly, comparing tracking errors can help you decide among funds.

        Consider the Total Cost

        Does the ETF minimise expenses? 

        Questions to Ask Why This is Important
        What is the fund’s total expense ratio? An ETF’s expense ratio often compares favourably to a managed fund’s expense ratio. If ETFs are similar in product structure, choose the one with the lower cost, while taking into consideration the transaction costs associated with trading the fund.
        Are there guidelines to minimise the fund’s rebalancing costs? Frequent rebalancing can increase your costs.
        What are the trading costs (commissions and transaction costs) associated with buying the ETF shares? While ETFs’ expense ratios are known to be low, trading ETFs may incur additional costs that are important to quantify and compare.
        What is the average bid-ask spread? A narrow bid-ask spread indicates a ready market that may facilitate trading.
        What is the tracking error of the fund? Returns can deviate some from the index, but profound differences may be a red flag of poor management or excessive trading costs.

        Guage Liquidity

        Can you trade when you want to?

        Questions to Ask Why This is Important
        What is the ETF’s average daily volume? High trading activity can mean greater liquidity and more efficient trading.
        How does the ETF maintain liquidity? Due to their unique creation/redemption process whereby authorised participants (APs) create and provide liquidity when it is needed, ETFs have potential liquidity that may not be evident from assessing trading volume. 
        Has liquidity been impacted due to market volatility? Due to their unique in-kind creation/redemption process, an ETF’s liquidity actually reflects the liquidity of the underlying securities. Therefore, if the ETF holds thinly traded securities, APs may have trouble sourcing liquidity during times of market stress. Additionally, less liquid ETFs can result in increased trading costs or limited ability to trade in volatile markets. 
        Does trading activity cause dramatic price swings? Large spreads between the bid and ask price often indicate an illiquid ETF, so you’ll want to study the spreads and market movements over time.

        More on ETF Education

        Issued by State Street Global Advisors, Australia Services Limited (AFSL Number 274900, ABN 16 108 671 441) ("SSGA, ASL").  Registered office: Level 14, 420 George Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia · Telephone: 612 9240-7600 · Web: www.ssga.com. 

         

        SSGA, ASL is the Responsible Entity and the issuer for the State Street Managed Funds, which are unquoted, and the SPDR® ETFs which are quoted on the AQUA market of the ASX or listed on the ASX. SSGA ASL is the AQUA Product Issuer for the CHESS Depositary Interests (or "CDIs") created over interests in the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust (“SPY”) which were first quoted on the AQUA market of the ASX on 13 Oct 2014. State Street Global Advisors Trust Company (ARBN 619 273 817) is the trustee of, and the issuer of interests in, the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust, an ETF registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and principally listed and traded on NYSE Arca, Inc. under the symbol "SPY".

         

        This material is general information only and does not take into account your individual objectives, financial situation or needs and you should consider whether it is appropriate for you. You should seek professional advice and consider the product disclosure statement, available at ssga.com, before deciding whether to acquire or continue to hold the Funds. Target Market Determinations can also be found at ssga.com.  This material should not be considered a solicitation to buy or sell a financial product or security. 

         

        Investing involves risk including the risk of loss of principal. Diversification does not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss.

         

        Risk associated with equity investing includes stock values which may fluctuate in response to the activities of individual companies and general market and economic conditions.

         

        ETFs trade like stocks, are subject to investment risk, fluctuate in market value and may trade at prices above or below the ETF’s net asset value. ETFs typically invest by sampling an index, holding a range of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the full index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. This may cause the fund to experience tracking errors relative to performance of the index.  

         

        SPDR®, Standard & Poor’s® and S&P® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, ASX® is a registered trademark of the ASX Operations Pty Ltd], these trademarks have been licensed for use by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and licensed for use for certain purposes by State Street. MSCI indexes are the exclusive property of MSCI Inc.(“MSCI”). MSCI and the MSCI index names are service mark(s) of MSCI or its affiliates and have been licensed for use for certain purposes by State Street.  The products referenced herein are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by any of these third party entities and none of these entities bear any liability with respect to the products or make any representation, warranty or condition regarding the advisability of buying, selling or holding any products issued by SSGA, ASL.

         

        There is no representation or warranty as to the current accuracy of, nor liability for, decisions based on such information.

         

        The whole or any part of this work may not be reproduced, copied or transmitted or any of its contents disclosed to third parties without SSGA ASL’s express written consent.

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