What does it actually take for wealth managers and asset management firms to bring an exchange-traded fund (ETF) to market? I speak with Raymond Bridges of Bridges Capital . Who’s launched the Bridges Capital Tactical ETF in 2023, raised its first $40 million and is now looking for the next stage of growth.
I’m very grateful to Raymond for the way he shared everything about the process, the costs, the challenges and the opportunities he sees.
Key Topics Covered include:
* Regulatory workflows and trust structures
* Cost considerations & capital requirements for launch
* The role of Authorized Participants (APs) and market makers
* Distribution strategies
Watch it on YouTube or listen on the Substack player or on every podcast app.
Below are a few selected quotes, with my comments:
The ETF upside
For context: a lot of Bridges Capital advisory clients have moved assets to the ETF. This implied a financial hit as the ETF carries lower fees than the 1% Raymond charged for advisory. There are also one-off launch costs and ongoing operational costs.
A lot of clients, they buy you, they buy the investment advisor, they buy an idea and a personality, but there's not really a chart. An ETF gives you that ability to put your performance out there, and it's like the world stage. Everybody can see it.
For clients the upside is on fees and tax efficiencies. For the ETF sub-advisor (the technical term for the specific setup chosen by Raymond), it’s the possibility to reach investors without boundaries and through a performance chart.
Launching and running an ETF
We went through the setup via a whitelabel platform, including the costs:
It costs roughly under my program, what I have, it's about a quarter million dollars a year in expenses to have the ETF, where I wouldn't have that expense at all if, I just ran a normal advisory firm.
It has become considerably easier and cheaper from what I remember from my time at an ETF issuer. There’s a staggering amount of ETFs, and 2026 saw 1900 launches so far!
The number of funds is outpacing the rapid growth of assets and it’s hard to see this trend slowing down.
Distribution, Distribution, Distribution
Distribution is to the ETF industry what location is to real estate.
The big game is distribution. With the ETF, we have a benefit of having the chart, and anybody can buy it as long as you're on an open architecture platform. But som many platforms are actually closed.
But while in real estate the repetition is to emphasize on location, I see different types of distribution in ETFs.
* Platforms: you need to work to get listed on the ones that don’t do it automatically
* Sales: in the case of BDGS it means one-on-one calls with private advisors large and small
* “Grassroot distribution”: (for lack of a better term) the one that the industry doesn’t really leverage that I discussed in previous articles: brand became distribution, ETFs should be consumer brands
Watch the episode on YouTube or listen to it on every podcast app.
References
An episode produced by Orama: Thought leadership videos & podcastshttps://orama.tv/About Raymond Bridges, CPA:Raymond Bridges founded Bridges Capital in 2018 after years at Wells Fargo. He built an active risk management process specifically to reduce the depth of those drawdowns, tested it through COVID, and packaged it into BDGS — the Bridges Capital Tactical ETF, which launched on the Nasdaq in May 2023.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raymond-bridges-cpa-a789b331/
https://www.mycertifiedteam.com/bc/https://www.nasdaq.com/authors/bridges-capital
About BDGS:
https://bridgesetf.com/The Bridges Capital Tactical ETF (BDGS) seeks to provide capital appreciation while preserving capital during market drawdowns.
About George Aliferis:Founder or Orama, ex-banker, ex-sales, working at the intersection of investment management, media & marketing.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-aliferis/Disclaimer:
This video is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, or financial advice. Consult qualified professionals before launching financial products or making investment decisions.
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