Today's guest on Let's Talk ETFs is GraniteShares founder and CEO, Will Rhind. Before founding GraniteShares in 2016, Will spent the previous 18 years working on launching and managing ETFs, first for the Barclays Global Investors iShares brand (which BGI later sold to BlackRock) in London and then for ETF Securities, where he relocated to NY to oversee the firm's expansion to the American market. He also worked for the World Gold Council where he was the CEO of the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD).
Not satisfied with the current state of commodities exchange traded products, Will channeled his passion into filling a gap he saw in the existing line-up of commodities ETFs products, leading to his starting GraniteShares in 2016.
Topics covered:
2:50 - The GraniteShares story: Why Will decided to start his own ETF firm despite stiff competition in the ETF space 6:00 - The history and evolution of commodity exchange-traded products 7:55 - Deconstructing myths around contango and negative roll yields in commodities funds 10:55 - Commodities in a ‘40 act fund: ETNs to the rescue, or a poor replacement? 13:40 - Are commodity indexes that try to mitigate negative roll yields better, or just different? 19:40 - The Goldman Sachs Commodities Index vs. the Bloomberg Commodities Index: Understanding the key differences between the 2 major benchmarks 23:05 - The current macro environment and resulting outlook for energy prices 29:30 - Beyond broad commodities funds GraniteShares Bloomberg Commodity Broad Strategy No K-1 ETF (COMB) and GraniteShares S&P GSCI Commodity Broad Strategy No K-1 ETF (COMG), does GraniteShares plan to roll out more single-commodity funds? 31:05 - Debunking myths around active management outperforming in the commodities space 35:55 - Is it possible to actually make money charging 17 basis points for a physical gold fund? The case for the GraniteShares Gold Trust ETF (BAR) vs. the much more expensive SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) 40:30 - Why have platinum funds gathered so little in AUM? GraniteShares Platinum Trust (PLTM) vs. Aberdeen Standard Physical Platinum Shares ETF (PPLT) 44:45 - The great scotch debate: Peated or un-peated, or Why GraniteShares is like an independent, family-owned distillery