Too much of a good thing

摘要

ANY industry would be proud of an av-Lerage annual growth rate of 34% over ten years and of a global reach from Austria to Taiwan. But the headlong expansion of exchange-traded funds (etfs), which by May this year controlled almost $1.5 trillion of assets (not far short of the $2 trillion in hedge funds), has become a matter for concern among financial regulators. Could etfs be the next source of financial scandal, or even of systemic risk?