James Ross, global head of State Street Global Advisors' Exchange-Traded Funds business, has vowed to spend "tens of millions" of dollars improving the understanding of the sector among investors.

Speaking at this week's Financial News' Passive Investments conference on ETFs, he said: "The understanding of ETFs has not kept up with product development." He said it was important to educate investors on the way they worked, given the broad range of alternatives.