First Trust (company)

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First Trust
FormerlyNike Securities
Company type Private
Industry Financial services
PredecessorClayton Brown & Associates
FoundedSeptember 1991;32 years ago (1991-09)
Founder Robert Van Kampen
Headquarters Wheaton, Illinois, U.S.
Key people
Products
AUM US$218 billion (April 2024)
Number of employees
637 (2023)
Website www.ftportfolios.com
Footnotes /references
[1]

First Trust is an American financial services firm based in Wheaton, Illinois. The firm is primarily engaged in issuing exchange-traded fund (ETF) products. However, it is also involved with other products such as unit investment trusts (UIT), mutual funds, and separately managed accounts for institutional investors.

Contents

First Trust was one of the first ETF providers to offer smart beta funds and thematic ETFs. Despite being one of the largest ETF issuers as well as UIT issuers, the firm has maintained a low profile. [2] [3]

Background

In 1967, Robert Van Kampen, who had previously worked at Nuveen, co-founded an investment banking firm, Van Kampen, Wauterlek & Brown, which was later renamed to Clayton Brown & Associates. In 1974, he left the firm to found another firm, Van Kampen Merritt, that was later acquired by Xerox in 1984. [4] [5] [6] [7]

In September 1991, Van Kampen founded another firm named Nike Securities in Chicago after Xerox announced it would discontinue its investment banking business to focus on asset management products such as UITs. Nike Securities acquired the UIT business from Clayton Brown & Associates and added 40-50 employees. At the time, Clayton Brown & Associates had sponsored more than $6 billion of UIT under the First Trust name, and the UIT division accounted for 30% of its business. James Bowen, who was previously the head of the UIT division, was selected to head up the new operation at Nike Securities. [4] [5] [6] [7]

On October 29, 1999, Van Kampen died, leaving speculation on whether his family would consider selling or entering a strategic alliance regarding Nike Securities. At that time, Nike Securities sold over $5 billion annually in UITs and administered $15.2 billion in UIT assets. With a pretax profit of $9 million, it was estimated Nike could fetch $45 million to $63 million in a sale. [7]

Nike Securities was later rebranded to First Trust, the brand name under which its UIT products were sold. [4] [5]

In December 2006, First Trust launched the First Trust Value Line Dividend Index on the American Stock Exchange which was the first closed-end fund to convert to an ETF. [8]

In 2010, Bowen bought First Trust from Van Kampen's family, making him the firm's owner. [2] [3] [4] [9]

In the first quarter of 2013, First Trust entered the European ETF market by launching three smart beta ETFs. [10]

According to The Wall Street Journal in 2019, First Trust is the sixth largest employer of Wheaton is one of the top three employers of Wheaton College graduates. [4]

First Trust's success in the ETF business is due to several factors. It tends to ignore fee wars and charges higher fees compared to its peers. The firm has been noted to offer unique strategies in its product lineup that cannot be found elsewhere. First Trust also focuses on the retail advisor market and relies on strong relationships with investment advisors to sell the products to the clients. It does not offer Robo-advisor services. [2] [3] [9]

Controversial tweets by First Trust executives

Business Insider has reported that First Trust's executives have posted controversial comments on Twitter under their real names and titles. Chief economist Brian Wesbury tweeted that COVID-19 vaccine mandates were similar to slavery, George Floyd protests were riots done by thugs, and that every clerk should be fired as a result of the leak regarding Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade . Deputy chief economist Bob Stein stated the George Floyd protests should be described as pogroms and tweeted at the New York Yankees Twitter account to mock it for tweeting facts about gun violence after the 2022 Buffalo shooting. Although both did get temporarily suspended from Twitter, they did not seem to get in trouble with the company or its clients. It was speculated that they evaded more blowback since First Trust is a private company. In 2017, Bowen told the audience at the Fearless Investing Summit that his company was "privately held, so if you hate me, I could care less." [3]

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References

  1. ↑ "Form ADV" (PDF). SEC.
  2. 1 2 3 "ETF Insight: Inside First Trust, the silent ETF powerhouse". ETF Stream. June 17, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Walker, Danielle. "A small fund manager is generating ETF revenues that rival Vanguard's. Investors appear not to mind the sky-high fees — or its executives' incendiary tweets on BLM protests, gun violence, and more". Business Insider. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Loder, Asjylyn (July 9, 2019). "How a Chicago Suburb Became a Center of ETFs". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 "Clayton Brown, who ran municipal bond firm, dies at 95". Chicago Tribune. November 28, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Nike Securities completes the purchase of Clayton Brown's unit trust division". American Banker. October 2, 1991. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 Fritz, Michael (November 8, 1999). "A TOP UNIT TRUST SELLER: NIKE COULD EYE SALE WITH FOUNDER'S LOSS". Investment News.
  8. ↑ Maxey, Daisy (December 19, 2006). "First Trust Fund Converts to an ETF". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  9. 1 2 "First Trust - Asset Management Company | Morningstar". Morningstar, Inc. January 30, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  10. ↑ "First Trust plans ETF push in Europe". www.ft.com. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
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