Retail Investors Decoded

Building a $9bn ETF empire in a world of gold, grifter and alien funds

“ETFs aren’t Harry Potter,” says Hector McNeil. “There’s nothing magic about them.” The edge comes from what you put inside it and being fast enough to get there first. McNeil has done that four times over. He co-invented the world’s first gold ETF and built the first ETC in Europe. Today he’s co-founder and co-CEO of HANetf, Europe’s leading white-label ETF platform, home to 33 brands, roughly a fifth of all European ETF issuers, and $9bn AUM. He joins Carl to unpack: - Why “s...

Building a $9bn ETF empire in a world of gold, grifter and alien funds

“ETFs aren’t Harry Potter,” says Hector McNeil. “There’s nothing magic about them.” The edge comes from what you put inside it and being fast enough to get there first. McNeil has done that four times over. He co-invented the world’s first gold ETF and built the first ETC in Europe. Today he’s co-founder and co-CEO of HANetf, Europe’s leading white-label ETF platform, home to 33 brands, roughly a fifth of all European ETF issuers, and $9bn AUM. He joins Carl to unpack: - Why “sea of sameness” pricing means innovation, not fees, decides which ETF wins - How white labeling gets a product to market in 10 weeks instead of iShares' multi-year head start - The “wagon circle” strategy for surviving alongside BlackRock and Vanguard - Why Germany’s 9.5 million ETF savings plans signal where retail investing is headed - The wildest ETF filings on Hector’s radar, from Grifter ETFs to a fund betting on alien technology CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction 0:51 Why it's HANetf, not NANetf 2:19 25 years in ETFs, from the London Stock Exchange to the first gold ETF 8:19 The "ETF black hole" theory 13:13 Solving the "sea of sameness" 16:52 Why white labeling beats building from scratch 22:20 The wagon-circle defence against BlackRock and Vanguard 25:20 Germany's 9.5 million ETF savings plans 28:13 Legacy mutual funds vs. the ETF future 32:37 Grifters, aliens, and the Yorkshire farmer's wheat trade 38:42 Where to find HANetf LINKS HANetf: https://www.hanetf.com Hector McNeil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hector-mcneil/ Talk to Finimize about how we can help you reach modern retail investors: https://finimize.com/business Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7350525208211931136

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The CMO teaching IR teams to understand retail investors

A great narrative wins attention. It can't save a bad product and, since the first meme stock wave, retail investors know how to check. Katie Perry grew Public.com's user base from 10,000 to millions through the pandemic and the GameStop era, has interviewed over 100 CEOs and CFOs on their retail investor strategy, and has just published her first book, Ticker Shock, on how retail investors are reshaping the capital markets. She's now CMO of Zero Hash, the digital asset infrastructure compan...

The CMO teaching IR teams to understand retail investors

A great narrative wins attention. It can't save a bad product and, since the first meme stock wave, retail investors know how to check. Katie Perry grew Public.com's user base from 10,000 to millions through the pandemic and the GameStop era, has interviewed over 100 CEOs and CFOs on their retail investor strategy, and has just published her first book, Ticker Shock, on how retail investors are reshaping the capital markets. She's now CMO of Zero Hash, the digital asset infrastructure company helping TradFi firms bolt on crypto capabilities. She joins Carl Hazeley to unpack: Why a great narrative wins attention but can't save a bad product How "finfluencer" became a dirty word, and who's actually doing financial content right The hidden double standard in the push for "authentic" CEO brands Why blue-chip companies are running investor relations with three people Why crypto conferences now look more corporate than Wall Street CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction 0:49 Why Katie wrote Ticker Shock 3:30 Navigating the fragmented media landscape 5:20 Closing the gap between institutional and retail messaging 9:48 Can a great narrative save a bad product? 14:06 The IR team size problem 18:50 How to audit your retail investor strategy 20:42 The "be more like Alex Karp" trap 21:31 Finfluencers vs. financial creators 23:47 What TradFi can learn from crypto (and vice versa) 27:32 IPOs as consumer marketing events 30:39 Diversity and the "authentic CEO" double standard 35:42 The Vlad Tenev / Trillionaire Mindset story 39:10 Where to find Katie and Ticker Shock LINKS Ticker Shock: https://www.tickershockbook.com/ Katie Perry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherineperry/ Zero Hash: https://zerohash.com/ Talk to Finimize about how we can help you reach modern retail investors: https://finimize.com/business Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7350525208211931136

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Brian Byrnes on how Moneybox built a pensions and ISA empire

This week on Retail Investors Decoded: Carl is joined by Brian Byrnes, Director of Personal Finance at Moneybox, as the platform approaches its 10-year anniversary with £23 billion in assets and 1.9 million customers. This episode gets into why traditional pension marketing turns customers off, the Moneybox manifesto that never mentions products by name, and why personalized guidance, not just access, is the sweet spot for retail investing. Talk to Finimize about how we can help you reach mo...

Brian Byrnes on how Moneybox built a pensions and ISA empire

This week on Retail Investors Decoded: Carl is joined by Brian Byrnes, Director of Personal Finance at Moneybox, as the platform approaches its 10-year anniversary with £23 billion in assets and 1.9 million customers. This episode gets into why traditional pension marketing turns customers off, the Moneybox manifesto that never mentions products by name, and why personalized guidance, not just access, is the sweet spot for retail investing. Talk to Finimize about how we can help you reach modern retail investors: https://finimize.com/business Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7350525208211931136

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BONUS Episode: What investors really think about AI, crypto and market volatility

Finimize Q3 2026 Modern Investor Pulse surveys nearly 3,000 investors worldwide on what they're thinking and how they’re behaving right now. In a bonus episode of Retail Investors Decoded, Carl is joined by Fraser Munro, head of partnerships, to break down what it all means for platforms, issuers and asset managers. In this episode: Why 41% of investors now use AI weekly for research, and why a conversation with a friend starts more investing journeys than talking to a chatbot Why 70% of inv...

BONUS Episode: What investors really think about AI, crypto and market volatility

Finimize Q3 2026 Modern Investor Pulse surveys nearly 3,000 investors worldwide on what they're thinking and how they’re behaving right now. In a bonus episode of Retail Investors Decoded, Carl is joined by Fraser Munro, head of partnerships, to break down what it all means for platforms, issuers and asset managers. In this episode: Why 41% of investors now use AI weekly for research, and why a conversation with a friend starts more investing journeys than talking to a chatbot Why 70% of investors think markets will be higher in 12 months, and how they're turning to ETFs and baskets during geopolitical volatility The knowledge gaps in derivatives, ETFs and crypto retail investors say they want help closing The Vanguard finding that 82% of people think saving and investing are fundamentally different activities Why publishing content isn’t the same as reach, and what that means for educating UK investors Subscribe to Retail Investors Decoded for more conversations on what’s moving retail investors. Talk to Finimize about how we can help you reach modern retail investors: https://finimize.com/business Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7350525208211931136

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Maike Currie: The gender pension gap, finfluencers and why everyone's an investor

Why do so many people have pensions, but so few think of themselves as investors? This episode, Carl sits down with Maike Currie, VP of Personal Finance at PensionBee, former Investors' Chronicle journalist and one of the UK's leading voices on pensions and financial education. They explore why Britain's investing problem starts long before someone opens an ISA, and what the industry, employers and government need to do differently. They get into: Why the gender pension gap is twice the si...

Maike Currie: The gender pension gap, finfluencers and why everyone's an investor

Why do so many people have pensions, but so few think of themselves as investors? This episode, Carl sits down with Maike Currie, VP of Personal Finance at PensionBee, former Investors' Chronicle journalist and one of the UK's leading voices on pensions and financial education. They explore why Britain's investing problem starts long before someone opens an ISA, and what the industry, employers and government need to do differently. They get into: Why the gender pension gap is twice the size of the gender pay gap How pensions could become Britain's gateway to investing Why financial firms are competing with Netflix, not each other, for attention The role of finfluencers, friction and trust in getting more people invested Talk to Finimize about how we can help you reach modern retail investors: https://finimize.com/business Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7350525208211931136

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Richard Flynn: UK retail investing, scrapping stamp duty & using AI "intentionally"

Britain has made investing cheaper and easier than ever, yet it still sits at the bottom of the G7 for retail participation. Why? Carl Hazeley sits down with Richard Flynn, MD of Charles Schwab UK. With $13 trillion in assets, 39 million accounts and a history stretching back to 1971, Schwab has spent decades lowering the barriers to investing. As Richard argues, the challenge now is moving people from simply participating in the market to actively engaging with it. They get into: Why incen...

Richard Flynn: UK retail investing, scrapping stamp duty & using AI "intentionally"

Britain has made investing cheaper and easier than ever, yet it still sits at the bottom of the G7 for retail participation. Why? Carl Hazeley sits down with Richard Flynn, MD of Charles Schwab UK. With $13 trillion in assets, 39 million accounts and a history stretching back to 1971, Schwab has spent decades lowering the barriers to investing. As Richard argues, the challenge now is moving people from simply participating in the market to actively engaging with it. They get into: Why incentivising people beats trying to compel them (and the Aesop's fable that explains it) The stark AI adoption gap between younger and older investors Stamp duty and the policy levers that could get Britain investing Why financial literacy belongs on the curriculum Talk to Finimize about how we can help you reach modern retail investors: https://finimize.com/business Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7350525208211931136

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