Frankfurt, 4 December 2023 The leading European publication for the listed index fund market, ETF Stream, has presented GFD Finanzkommunikation | Team Farner with the "ETF PR Firm of the Year" award at the ETF Stream Awards.¹ The award, selected by the ETF Stream editorial team, was presented at a ceremony in London in front of 300 international guests from the ETF industry. Awards were presented in a total of 25 categories to ETF providers, exchanges, index providers and service providers specialising in ETFs, such as market makers, law firms and PR companies. "The dynamism of the European ETF industry is unbroken. The professionalisation of the ETF ecosystem on the one hand and the increased interest of other investor groups such as private investors and financial advisors on the other point to further growth in ETF investments," says Joachim Althof, Managing Partner at GFD Finanzkommunikation | Team Farner. According to the research firm ETFGI, the volume of capital invested in ETFs has doubled on average every five years to currently around USD 1.5 trillion.

Despite the increased interest of investors and the media in ETFs, there are still misunderstandings and a great need for active communication work, says
Althof, who has been closely monitoring the industry for more than 15 years. "An "An index fund is not a passive investment, every purchase of an ETF unit is an active investment decision in a very specific market segment." Therefore the term "passive" is often misleading. Various index concepts have
have become established among investors over the past 30 years. The construction of an index index and the decision of an ETF provider to launch a product for a specific investment investment segment are also preceded by active decisions. "ETFs do not "ETFs don't just fall from the sky, there is a lot of hard work behind them," says Althof. "We expect to see further differentiation in the ETF industry in terms of products products, providers and investment strategies."

¹ https://www.etfstream.com/events/etf-stream-awards-2023

For further information please contact:

GFD - Gesellschaft für Finanzkommunikation mbH | Team Farner
Uwe Lill, Managing Partner
E-Mail: lill@gfd-finanzkommunikation.de
Tel.: +49 (0)69 9712 47-13; Mobil: +49 (0) 151 6333 9312

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About GFD Finanzkommunikation | Team Farner
GFD Finanzkommunikation is one of the leading financial communications consultancies in Germany. International asset managers, banks and financial service providers as well as listed companies trust us thanks to our convincing expertise and in-depth understanding of the capital markets on both the investor and issuer side. GFD has been an established communications consultant for more than 25 years and has been part of Team Farner, a Europe-wide network of leading communications agencies, since June 2023. The company is based in Frankfurt and Munich and employs 20 people.