Commodity ETPs: limited viability?

Commodity exchange-traded products face an uncertain future unless they can adapt to regulations seeking to impose strict limits on firms’ commodities positions, while fighting competition from products designed to circumvent the new rules entirely. Pierre Cooper reports

Exchange-traded products (ETPs) linked to commodities have been credited with democratising access for retail investors to an asset class that experts claim is both uncorrelated and a good inflation hedge.

“What we do is give the ordinary investor the opportunity to get exposure to oil or gas. My investors are just ordinary people. If you look through my shareholders you will find that no more than four holders own over 5% of the shares,” says John Hyland, chief investment officer at San