The ETF committee is a relatively new development, launching in October 2016 and meeting several times during 2017.
Laird’s appointment was confirmed earlier last month.
Laird (pictured), who is head of ETF strategy for Northern Europe at Lyxor, told Portfolio Adviser the introduction of the committee shows the IA considers ETFs an important part of the fund landscape.
“I’m looking forward to using the committee and the other members to help drive ETF understanding and promote their use,” Laird said.
Before Lyxor, which he joined in September 2016, Laird was head of passive investments at Hargreaves Lansdown.
The IA said it does not comment on individual appointments, but that the committee has come to represent more than 80% of the European ETF market by AUM.
Vanguard, Blackrock and Amundi are also represented on the committee.
An IA spokesperson said: “ETFs have become increasingly popular investment choice for savers and investors. The IA’s ETF Committee provides a forum for the ETF industry to engage on the global regulatory agenda and to educate market participants and regulators about the role of ETFs in capital markets.”
In September, the IA argued against “unnecessary regulation” for ETFs in feedback to the Central Bank of Ireland’s ETF discussion paper, which was published in May.
In particular, it warned against over regulation of ETFs compared to traditional fund structures, saying while ETFs faced additional risk factors, existing regulation, such as Esma’s Guidelines on ETFs and Other Ucits Issues, already addressed that.
It also warned against the over regulation of authorised participants (AP), which provide liquidity for the market. It said “overly onerous” regulation could negatively impact liquidity and that the few examples of AP arrangements breaking down did not impact market liquidity as other APs stepped in.
The CBI said at its ETF conference in November that details of its new regulatory framework would be revealed in the “coming months”, but suggested it would be reflecting on the role of APs.
