Goldman romps past JPMorgan in Wall St battle of ETF newbies

New York

TWO of the financial industry's biggest names - Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co - are in the race for Wall Street supremacy in the US$3 trillion global market for exchange-traded funds.

Goldman Sachs won the first leg by pulling in a couple of billion dollars in ETF assets in a year. But the competition is just beginning, and JPMorgan has plenty of time to catch up. "Goldman clearly has a sizable lead," said Ben Johnson, the Chicago-based director of ETF research for Morningstar Inc. "Goldman did quite a bit of work priming the pump, pre-vetting its strategies with institutional clients. "