Jan Van Eck: "Some Index Fund Companies Have Become Too Large To Be Left Unchecked."

Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

0:00 -- Intro.

1:36 -- Start of interview.

2:22 -- Jan's "origin story".

6:34 -- On the background of the investment firm Van Eck, founded by his father John Van Eck in 1955.

10:32 -- About Van Eck today (~$75 billion in AUM, 90% in ETFs). Jan started the ETF business in 2006.

11:45 -- About his article "ESG Died in 2022: CEO Op-Ed." The problem of concentration of power by the big three (BlackRock, Vanguard and SSGA). Reference to the article: Bogle Sounds a Warning on Index Funds (WSJ, 2018).

18:05 -- How to fix the problem of concentration of power. Some solutions provided by Jack Bogle.

20:17 -- Jan's proposal: 5% ownership cap to deal with concentration of power. "We in the industry have to address this." Legislation is also needed to do this.

23:22 -- The practice of large asset managers passing-through voting power to beneficial owners.

27:52 -- On geopolitics and China. "The sanctions risk is definitely a friction point with China." "China has an 'uncatchable' lead in energy transition technologies."

37:23 -- On crypto regulation. "It's a rapidly changing situation." The promotion of safe practices from the NY regulator DFS. Example: its recent $100m settlement with Coinbase for significant failures in its compliance program ($50m fine and $50m to invest in its compliance program). "The SEC is started to make a look of power moves to grab more jurisdiction over crypto matters, expanding to banks (ie. proposed rules on custody of crypto assets.)"

42:05 -- On restrictive crypto regulation in the US vs offshore.

46:07 -- On the rise of private markets vs. public markets. "I'd love to see more companies go public."

48:34 -- On dual-class share structures and founder control.

50:01 -- The books that have greatly influenced his life:

1. Two Cheers for Capitalism, by Irving Krystol (1978)

51:45 -- His mentors, and what he learned from them.

1. His father John Van Eck
2. Joe Grundfest, SLS.

52:49 -- Quotes he thinks of often or lives his life by. From his mom: "Everyone needs love."

54:09 -- An unusual habit or an absurd thing that he loves: he teaches a 16-unit class on history (financial structure) to summer interns at Van Eck.

55:48 -- On his time in Silicon Valley, and economic cycles.

57:35 -- On the trend of WFH, employee mobility post-pandemic, and the future of NY as a hub for finance.

Jan Van Eck is the President & CEO of Van Eck Associates Corporation, an investment firm based in New York with about $75 billion in assets under management and 400 employees.

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You can follow Jan on social media at:

Twitter: @JanvanEck3

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janfvaneck/

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You can follow Evan on social media at:

Twitter: @evanepstein

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/

Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/

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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

You can follow Evan on social media at:

Twitter: @evanepstein

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/

Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/

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You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:

Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod

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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License