Cindy Zheng was a fully funded CERF Scholar (October 2017- September 2020)
CERF PhD Scholar: Cindy Zheng
University of Cambridge, Cambridge Judge Business School
PhD Supervisor: Dr Pedro Saffi
Project: Determinants on ETF Launching Decisions
This paper studies the decision to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF). Using U.S. data, I find that ETF launches are more likely to be driven by investor demand, rather than based on past performance. The likelihood of ETF launches is positively related to profit maximization motives by fund families through both revenue generation and cost reduction. Furthermore, both economies of scale and scope are present in the ETF initiations: families with smaller scope face the pressure to expand the breadth of offerings, while more established families benefit from specialization. Smaller-sized families have a propensity to follow the market leader, although are less likely to launch in markets with higher switching costs or dominated by the three largest families. Finally, a time-to-event analysis shows that ETFs launched by larger families, those charging higher fees, and whose initiations are not driven by capital flows into the families are more likely to survive for longer.
PhD Title: “Incentive Fees on Mutual Fund and Separate Account’'