# ETF Share Class Operational Considerations

> Investment Company Institute’s paper “ETF Share Class Operational Considerations”, summarized by ETFIQ with its own data beside it. Summary by ETFIQ.

Data as of Oct 21, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

Published Oct 23, 2025 by Investment Company Institute. Summary by ETFIQ as of Oct 21, 2026.

## ETF Share Class Operational Considerations

An October 2025 Investment Company Institute paper says at least 75 asset managers had sought SEC relief to add ETF share classes to existing mutual funds.

Investment Company Institute · Industry body · Read the full paper at Investment Company Institute ↗

### What it says

Figures as stated by Investment Company Institute, Oct 23, 2025

- The Investment Company Institute says the SEC signaled on September 29, 2025 that it intended to approve the dual share class structure. (ICI, p. 3)

- The Investment Company Institute expects an automated industry system for moving mutual fund shares into the matching ETF class to arrive by mid-2026. (ICI, p. 11)

- The Investment Company Institute notes most broker platforms run mutual funds and ETFs on separate systems, and ETFs typically pay intermediaries no 12b-1 fees. (ICI, p. 3)

- In a hypothetical example, the Investment Company Institute shows trading costs from mutual fund redemptions dropping from 0.150 basis points without an ETF class to 0.0375 with a large one. (ICI, p. 17)

- Since ETF shares are only exchanged whole, the Investment Company Institute explains, any fractional remainder stays behind in the investor's mutual fund account. (ICI)

### The ETFIQ take

ETFIQ data to Oct 20, 2026 · the 746 of 4,807 ETFs ETFIQ covers with a daily figure, Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026

Investment Company Institute reports at least 75 asset managers had applied to the SEC to run ETF share classes, as of September 29, 2025. From Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, the ETFs ETFIQ can count had a net flow of +$127.9bn, with +$90.1bn for stock ETFs and +$35.7bn for bond ETFs.

+$127.9bn net flow, Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, summed over the 746 of 4,807 ETFs ETFIQ covers with a daily figure , Oct 20, 2026. ETFIQ

+$461.8bn net flow, Jan 2, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, summed over the 713 of 4,807 ETFs ETFIQ covers with a daily figure , Oct 20, 2026. ETFIQ

+$90.1bn net flow into stock ETFs, Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, over the 322 of 1,739 with a daily figure , Oct 20, 2026. ETFIQ

+$35.7bn net flow into bond ETFs, Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, over the 204 of 833 with a daily figure , Oct 20, 2026. ETFIQ

Paper: US asset managers seeking ETF share classes, as of September 29, 2025. ETFIQ: the 746 of 4,807 ETFs ETFIQ covers with a daily figure, Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026. Net flow is the change in shares outstanding times the day’s NAV, summed over the days in the window, for the funds with a daily figure. The two sets and windows differ; the figures are stated, not reconciled. Method Data

### Related ETFs

The largest ETFs ETFIQ covers, by net assets

- VOO Vanguard S&P 500 ETF: +16.5%

- IVV iShares Core S&P 500 ETF: +16.5%

- SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust: +16.4%

- VTI Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF: +15.9%

- QQQ Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1: +19.2%

- VUG Vanguard Morningstar Growth ETF: +11.2%

Figure: total return, 1 year, to Oct 21, 2026, from each fund’s page. All 4,807 ETFs in the screener →

### Related papers

J.P. Morgan Asset Management · Issuer · Oct 15, 2026 · ETFIQ take

#### Guide to ETFs

J.P. Morgan Asset Management's October 2026 Guide to ETFs counts 5,677 U.S. ETFs holding $16.3 Tn, with data through September 30, 2026.

Flows Bonds Read the paper ↗

First Trust · Issuer · Oct 7, 2026 · ETFIQ take

#### ETF Data Watch

First Trust's October 2026 flows monitor shows US-listed ETFs took in $139.9 billion of net inflows in September, lifting total assets to $15.9 trillion.

Flows Bonds Income Read the paper ↗

First Trust · Issuer · Sep 8, 2026 · ETFIQ take

#### ETF Data Watch Flier - September 2026

First Trust's September 2026 flows monitor counts $179.6 billion of net new money into US-listed ETFs during August, lifting their assets to $16.1 trillion.

Flows Bonds Income Read the paper ↗

All 16 papers on flows →

### Questions people ask

What does the Investment Company Institute paper conclude? An October 2025 Investment Company Institute paper says at least 75 asset managers had sought SEC relief to add ETF share classes to existing mutual funds. The paper’s own words are at the link above. What does ETFIQ’s data show on the same question? From Sep 21, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, the ETFs ETFIQ can count had a net flow of +$127.9bn, with +$90.1bn for stock ETFs and +$35.7bn for bond ETFs. ETFIQ states both figures and does not reconcile them. What is an ETF’s net flow? The change in its shares outstanding times its net asset value, summed over the days of a window: money in less money out. Where can I read “ETF Share Class Operational Considerations”? On Investment Company Institute’s own site. ETFIQ summarizes the paper and does not host it.

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Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.
Cite: ETFIQ, ETF Share Class Operational Considerations (Investment Company Institute), summary and ETFIQ take, as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/research/library/ici-etf-share-class-operational-considerations/
Licence: https://etfiq.com/license/ Figures ETFIQ computes are free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.
HTML: https://etfiq.com/research/library/ici-etf-share-class-operational-considerations/
