Welcome to the Boardroom Governance Podcast. I’m your host, Evan Epstein. In this episode, I talk with Jan Van Eck, 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. Jan has created strategic beta, tactical allocation, emerging markets, and commodity-related investment strategies in mutual fund, ETF, and institutional formats. He founded the Firm’s ETF business in 2006. One of the world’s largest ETF sponsors, the Firm offers ETFs, branded VanEck, globally across equity and fixed income asset classes. In this podcast, we talk about a recent article that he wrote titled “ESG Died in 2022: CEO Op-Ed.” We also discuss geopolitics, China, and the state of capital markets. In addition, we talk about crypto regulation, public markets vs private markets, among many other relevant corporate governance topics. If you like this show, please consider subscribing, leaving a review or sharing this podcast on social media. You can find all the show notes on the website boardroom-governance.com and please feel free to subscribe to the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at evanepstein.substack.com
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:
51:45 -- His mentors, and what he learned from them.
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