The emergence of exchange-traded funds (ETF) is one of the most significant phenomena in the world of investment in the last decade, challenging established roles of mutual funds and active managers. The trend is fast catching on in Asian markets including Taiwan where the The Asset ETF Asia Summit 2015 was held joined by some of the most influential leaders in the industry.

With over 200 delegates in attendance throughout the day from Singapore to Japan, the event highlighted the key steps necessary to sustain ETF use in Asia's return-hungry investors. "I think it was a great event, ETF is a very promising product in Taiwan and Asia. We need to know more about it, so these kind of events creates awareness and brings the industry practitioners together," says John Huang, CEO, private banking Cathay United Bank.

Along with thought-provoking panels and dialogues covering a range of ETF topics from distribution to liquidity, the summit also played host to some key speakers such as Michael Lin, president of Taiwan Stock Exchange and Tsay Feng-Ching, vice chairman of the Public Service Pension Fund Taiwan. "The summit was a good chance to meet many knowledgeable people and a good chance to network," says Shahrul Amry Abdul Malek, executive vice president, market development, securities market, Bursa Malaysia. "Throughout the whole day there was a lot of in-depth topics."

The event wasn't all Asia focused as delegates also got a chance to interact with industry experts in Europe and the United States via a live video link to our London-based summit keynote speakers. As a result, delegates were able to learn about how ETFs were being used in developed markets.

"I was very impressed, it was very well organized I loved the flow of the topics," highlighted Jenny Chiam, head of securities, Singapore Exchange. "I especially liked the beginning were the summit was positioned to give you a view of issuers, exchanges, regulators and the distributers. The topic I liked personally was the distribution panel because it was a good balance of people and gave you a sense of Asia is going to change dramatically."

After the main large sessions, the event wrapped up with ETF dialogues segment, which were a series of simultaneous roundtables that focused on various topics spanning Robo-advisory to Japanese ETFs. This provided delegates with a more intimate setting to ask their in-depth questions. "One of the key messages of the day was that it's very important to have education of investors if you want the ETF market to grow," says Frédéric Ducoulombier, founding director, EDHEC Risk Institute-Asia. "I think that these kind of events when they are put together with quality speakers and many angles is very helpful in moving the market forward."

Although the ETF market is still in its early stages in Asia, estimated at US$120 billion in total assets, the market will continue to be a hot topic in the region for years to come. "I think that ETF is a really hot issue, and the summit was able to assemble a great group of speakers and panelists," says Eugenie Shen, managing director and head of asset management group at Asifma. "I really enjoyed it."