The folks at a $245-billion-AUMS (as of October 31) fund firm near Chicago are rolling out an AI-focused thematic fund.

Ryan O. Issakainen First Trust Portfolios L.P. Senior Vice President, ETF Strategist

Yesterday (November 21), Ryan Issakainen, senior vice president and ETF strategist at First Trust Advisors L.P. [profile], and Allison Stone, head of multi-asset product at Bloomberg Index Services Limited, unveiled the launch of the First Trust Bloomberg Artificial Intelligence ETF (FAI on the NYSE Arca). Wheaton, Illinois-based First Trust serves as the passively managed, non-diversified ETF's investment advisor and fund reporting agent, while Bloomberg serves as index provider.

FAI's inception date was Wednesday (November 20), and the new fund's expense ratio is 65 basis points. As of yesterday, FAI had $1.507 million in AUM.

The PM team for FAI includes: Jon Erickson, senior vice president at First Trust; Daniel Lindquist, managing director; David McGarel, chief investment officer, chief operating officer, and managing director; Chris Peterson, SVP; Erik Russo, vice president; Roger Testin, SVP; and Stan Ueland, SVP.

Issakainen puts the launch of FAI in the context of what he describes as AI's undeniable "potential to dramatically boost productivity and efficiency across numerous applications."

"While it's challenging to pinpoint the exact winners and losers at this early juncture, FAI aims to strike a balance between focused selectivity and diversification by investing in 50 stocks within the burgeoning AI ecosystem," Issakainen states.

"With the Bloomberg Artificial Intelligence Index, we've created an equity benchmark of the top 50 companies in this space chosen through a combination of market capitalization and revenue assessment by Bloomberg Intelligence research," Stone states.

FAI is a series of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II. The new ETF's other service providers include: Bank of New York Mellon as administrator, accounting agent, custodian, and transfer agent; Chapman and Cutler LLP as counsel; Deloitte & Touche LLP as independent accounting firm; and First Trust Portfolios L.P. as distributor. 

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