Best ETF Initiative

Submission fee: $1000 +HST                                                                                     Proceeds from submission fees will benefit Morningstar's official charity partner, MusiCounts.

Eligible initiatives may come in any practicable form. Below is a discussion of some of the types of initiatives Morningstar will consider for this award category. The submission should attempt to address the areas being considered by the jury. For more information please contact Michael Leonard at michael.leonard@morningstar.com

Educational initiatives

• What was the nature of the educational initiative and who was the intended audience?
• How broad was its scope? How deep did the firm dive into the topic?
• Was the material presented in an interesting and engaging manner?
• What mediums did the firm use to communicate (e.g. print, web, social media, etc)?
• Was the information contained fair and balanced? Was there an appropriate discussion of potential risks?
• Was the firm able to measure results/progress of the initiative?

Website resources/tools

• What was the nature of the resource/tool? What benefit does it provide?
  1. Does it help investors navigate and make sense of the growing ETF landscape?
  2. Does it provide access to information that goes above and beyond what is required regulatory disclosure?
  3. Is any attention paid to clear fee disclosure?
• How user-friendly is the website/tool?
• How accessible is the tool? Is it available to the general public or only to a select group (e.g. current investors, advisors, etc)?

Webinars/conferences

• What subjects did the conference cover? What was the format?
• Who presented at the conference? What firms/organizations were represented?
• How many people attended? What was the breakdown of the audience (e.g. investors, advisors, institutions, etc)?
• Was audience feedback collected after the event? How did the audience rate the conference?

Relationship with investors and/or advisor community

• Does the firm have a contact dedicated to communicating with investors and answering general questions about its products?
• Does the firm offer access to a trading desk/liquidity specialist that would be able to assist an investor/advisor in making a large trade? (creations/redemptions in the primary market to avoid market impact with large block trades)
• What are some of the firm's other initiatives aimed at increasing education and awareness about ETFs?

Relationship with regulators

• Has the firm had any ongoing dialog with any of the various regulatory bodies with respect to making sure that ETFs are considered in future regulatory decisions?
• Are there any regulatory issues that the firm has tackled that will help investors or the development of the ETF industry in Canada?