They’ve gone from a niche Toronto Stock Exchange innovation known best for tracking indices to a juggernaut that includes both active and passive strategies across virtually every asset class.
“It speaks to the value that investors extract from leveraging ETFs for their investments,” said Pat Chiefalo, Invesco Canada’s senior vice-president and head of product, in an interview on Tuesday. “Clearly this is a critical and important vehicle for them to achieve their financial goals.”
Chiefalo joined Invesco in 2021 from BlackRock, initially as head of ETFs & indexed strategies. He’s a prime example of an industry executive who owes at least some of his success to the category’s explosive rise.
“When I joined, there was a real focus and determined effort to accelerate our growth in ETFs,” he said.
Given the advantages of ETFs for investors — including generally lower fees, the ability to trade holdings throughout the day, greater tax efficiency and daily holdings reports — it’s reasonable to expect there will be continued asset flows into ETFs. Remarkably, ETF assets still only represent about a quarter of the $2.5 trillion held in mutual funds across Canada.
Don’t discount investor inertia though, Cheifalo said. “Some advisors and investors are just more comfortable with those kinds of exposures. And maybe there’s some strategies that they can’t get in an ETF.”
It’s difficult to imagine those gaps lasting long though.
Chiefalo joked with me that he’d “rather be lucky than good.” Certainly, he joined Invesco at an opportune time, in a role that provided an opportunity for success. Give him credit for earning that spot though, and for delivering. As clear as his marching orders were in 2021, there wasn’t much of a map drawn up for him.
“A playbook is great,” Chiefalo said. “At some point in my career, I hope to have one.”
He didn’t share much on his 2026 priorities, except to say that he sees the Atlanta-based global asset manager offering Canadians more alternative investments, including private markets, real estate and infrastructure.
That won’t differentiate Invesco, clearly. But if Chiefalo gets the execution right, it’s a big step forward.