Schroders chief slams Ark ETFs for ‘massive wealth destruction’

Schroders chief slams Ark ETFs for ‘massive wealth destruction’

Schroders’ chief executive has criticised the arrival of speculative “have-a-go” investors in the asset management industry for causing “massive destruction of wealth”.

Peter Harrison singled out exchange traded funds managed by Cathie Wood, chief investment officer at Ark Invest, for producing “billions and billions of dollars of wealth destruction”.

Ark’s $12.5bn (€11.3bn) flagship actively managed Innovation ETF (ARKK) has lost $3.6bn in assets under management over the first two months of the year, with its clients enduring a loss of more than 45 per cent over the past 12 months.

Wood has become well known for investing in “disruptive innovation”, and making large investments in bitcoin and electric carmaker Tesla. ARKK is still up nearly 16 per cent over three years.

Speaking at the NextWealth Live conference earlier this week, Harrison said Wood’s funds were the “best example” of entrants to the industry “speculating rather than investing” and preventing clients from having “good long-term retirements”.

Ark did not respond to a request for comment.

Harrison added that the asset management industry needed to “stand back” and understand why many retail clients put their money into cryptocurrencies and buy-to-let property.

“We’re not, as an industry, providing something that is more relevant to [retail investors],” Harrison said.

He criticised regulatory