iShares' Bower defends 'unfairly demonised' ETFs

Th ETF industry found itself in the spotlight once again for all the wrong reasons after it emerged the 'rogue' trader who lost UBS £1.3 billion was a trader on the bank's ETF desk.

This was the latest in series of blows to the image industry, the most recent of which was last week when the European Systematic Risk board, chaired by Jean-Claude Trichet, suggested the possible withdrawal of the Ucits label from complex and opaque ETFs, to ensure Ucits products remain simple.

The controversey has prompted BlackRock iShares head of UK distribution David Bower to defend ETFs.

While he accepts that as the industry grows more regulation is needed, he believes it has been unfairly demonised in certain quarters.

Bower also draws attention the strict rules applied at iShares.