ETFs have a well-deserved place in investment strategies and have a positive impact on the securities markets, but it has become clear that retail investors and investment professionals lack clarity about the regulatory structure of exchange-traded products.

With their various acronyms: ETFs (funds), ETNs (notes), ETCs (commodities) and ETPs (products). The distinction is important because a product's regulatory structure drives many of its investment characteristics, such as counterparty exposure, regulatory treatment and the tax treatment of its profits and losses.