State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) plans to expand its product offering and enhance its education program following the appointment of Amanda Skelly as head of SPDR exchange-traded funds (ETF).
Skelly, who moved to the global asset manager from her role as director of Russell Investments' Australian ETF business, will be responsible for driving the SPDR ETFs business strategy and product development in Australia.
She will report to Frank Henze, SSgA's head of SPDR ETFs for the Asia-Pacific region.
Commenting on her decision to leave Russell for SSgA, Skelly told InvestorDaily she had "always looked at the State Street business with envy".
"They were here first and they've spent a lot of time working with investors on how to use ETFs in their portfolio," she said.
"They spend a long period of time building that trust with investors and helping them understand how to use them, and I see that that's the major challenge that the ETF industry is facing right now."
She said SSgA planned to expand its products so investors could "come to State Street for all of their ETF needs".
"We're [also] looking at some other areas such as global equities, [but that] is further down the track," she said.
SSgA is also focusing on reviewing its education program to educate Australia investors about the uses of ETFs.
"We're looking about how to bring our education program globally to Australian investors to make it localised, relevant for them. That's very high on my agenda of things to achieve," Skelly said.
Russell Investments Australasia chief executive Chris Corneil said the company was in the process of seeking a replacement for Skelly.
"We are currently looking at various options for the leadership of the ETF team," Corneil said in a statement.
