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ARTICLE · 02 JULY 2026

The SEC Seeks Novel Ideas For Novel ETFs

K&L Gates
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a Request for Comment on Novel ETFs, raising fundamental questions about how innovative exchange-traded funds can be structured and brought to market. The RFC addresses investment company status determinations, potential amendments to the ETF rule, and registration statement review processes, with implications that could reshape the rapidly growing ETF industry. Industry participants face critical decisions about whether certain novel products should cont

United StatesFinance and Banking
Thoreau Bartmann
Thoreau Bartmann
Edward B. Baer
Edward B. Baer
Kevin R. Gustafson
Kevin R. Gustafson
Keri E. Riemer
Keri E. Riemer
Lance Dial
Lance Dial

On 30 June 2026, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) issued a Request for Comment on Novel ETFs (the RFC). The RFC follows a statement by SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on 20 May 2026 in which he noted that “[n]ovel products raise novel questions,” and he instructed the staff to gather information from the public on how to respond to “recent market changes.”1

The RFC, which is not itself a proposed rulemaking, seeks public comment on some of these “novel questions,” and it will likely be used by the SEC and its staff to inform future guidance or rulemaking. Several of the questions posed by the SEC in the RFC could have far-reaching implications for sponsors of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and perhaps even sponsors of other investment products. Specifically, the RFC requests comments on the following:

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