ETF Sponsor: Who They Are and What They Do

What Is an ETF Sponsor?

An ETF sponsor is the issuer and fund manager that administers and markets an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

An exchange-traded fund is a type of security that tracks an index, sector, commodity, or other assets, but which can be purchased or sold on a stock exchange the same as a regular stock. An ETF can be structured to track anything from the price of an individual commodity to a large and diverse collection of securities. ETFs can even be structured to track specific investment strategies.

Understanding ETF Sponsors

An ETF sponsor manages an exchange-traded fund. A group of institutional investors supplies the securities that will make up the fund and, in exchange for this delivery, gain so-called creation units, which are ETF shares in giant blocks, usually numbering more than 50,000 or more shares. 

The ETF was first introduced in the early 1990s. Since then, ETF sponsors have developed a large industry. A larger, more diversified ETF sponsor may hold an in-house portion of a fund's securities. Others focus on index maintenance, market liquidity, and general marketing. Changes will need to be made to an ETF portfolio when an underlying index is reconstituted. So at that time, the ETF sponsor works with holders of creation units to do the work of exchanging securities according to those reconstituted index alterations.

The ETF sponsor generally deals only with the creation units and the institutional shareholders; they do not directly trade shares with investors. The ETF sponsor can also redeem physical securities for creation units at an institutional shareholder's request.

How ETF Sponsors Work With Other ETF Participants

In the primary market, ETF sponsors work with creation-unit holders, authorized participants (APs), and institutional investors like brokerage houses authorized to create ETFs. Some market makers may also function as APs but provide market liquidity. APs apply to ETF sponsors for a creation unit, thereby creating ETF shares through their purchase from a sponsor, which can come in the form of cash or an in-kind transfer, otherwise known as a securities basket.

APs may also apply to redeem creation units from a sponsor, receiving a securities basket or cash in return. This process of APs creating and redeeming with an ETF sponsor provides liquidity to investors who want to make sizable ETF trades.

It is in the secondary market, the stock exchange, where we see the differences in ETFs' functionality compared to mutual funds: ETFs can be sold by APs to investors through the stock exchange. The ETF sponsor calculates and publishes the net asset value (NAV) daily, which may be more or less than the secondary market price of the ETF.

Market makers also facilitate trades in the secondary market, providing liquidity and ensuring that there is a bid-offer spread. As a result, the price of ETF shares changes in real-time on exchanges. By contrast, mutual funds establish their daily NAV after trading ends for a given day.

The Bottom Line

An ETF sponsor is an investment management company that creates, sells, and markets ETFs. Popular ETF sponsors are Blackrock, Vanguard, Statestreet, Invesco, First Trust, ProShares, and VanEck.