The invention of the ETF was inspired by the SEC's response to the infamous rout called Black Monday.

Eric Balchunas Bloomberg L.P. Senior ETF Analyst, Funds Product Specialist

So begins the story told in Bloomberg by Eric Balchunas. The long piece offers fundsters interested in industry history a deep dive into the origins of the exchange-traded mutual fund business.

The origin story, set from 1988 to 1993, features a big cast of characters, including: the late Nathan Most, then vice president of new product development at the American Stock Exchange (now part of the NYSE); Steven Bloom, then also on the Amex product development team alongside Most; Arthur Levitt, then chairman of the Amex; David Ruder, chairman of the SEC from 1987 to 1989; Vanguard founder Jack Bogle; Kathleen Moriarty, partner at Kaye Scholer who helped out Amex on the legal side; Howard Kramer, then a staffer in the SEC's division of market regulation; Peter Haynes, then at the Toronto Stock Exchange; James Ross from SSgA; and Gary Eisenreich, then a specialist at ETFs' first market maker, Spear Leeds & Kellogg. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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