PNC Global Investment Servicing plans to roll out an exchange-traded fund processing capability at the beginning of 2009. The move will be a reprise for the firm, which had offered the capability to one client beginning in 1996 but stopped offering a few years later when that client was acquired. Nancy Wolcott, recently appointed president of the group, said the capability will be full service and will include custody, accounting and transfer agency services, among others.
Wolcott said the firm is reentering the business because of client feedback. "Our clients are interested in creating products in the ETF space, and we want to be there for them," she said. Global ETF assets are expected to surge to $1 trillion in 2009 and $2 trillion in 2011, despite the current crisis, according to a recent ETF Industry Highlights report from Barclays Global Investors. Wolcott noted the firm expects to have a robust business, despite the fact that the firm’s entry comes after the market is more established. "ETFs continue to be a rapidly growing niche in the investment arena and we believe there is room for more quality providers... [and] more than enough room in the marketplace to have a strong ETF business."
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