Three letter acronyms, or what the military has a habit of calling TLAs, had such a bad crisis that investors could be forgiven for avoiding them like the plague. But while some TLAs such as CDO, ABS, RBS and FSA are still struggling to rebuild their reputations, one notable exception is roaring ahead. ETF.

Exchange-traded funds have come a long way since they were invented in 1993. As we report this week, they have shrugged off the financial crisis and grew by 28% last year to $1.48 trillion of assets under management, according to research by the doyenne of the sector, Deborah Fuhr at BlackRock.