Evolution

Registered Funds

The Massachusetts Investors Trust is the first open-ended fund that provides indirect pooled ownership of a portfolio of securities.

1924

After the crash of 1929, Congress passes a series of acts, most notably the Investment Company Act of 1940, to impose higher governance standards on pooled investment vehicles.

1930 - 1940

Exchange-Traded Options

Cboe is founded and becomes the first marketplace for trading listed options.

1972

Cboe Clearing Corp. becomes the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), the industry clearinghouse for all U.S. options trades

1975

Structured Notes

First structured notes sold in France and UK

1980

1980: First structured notes are sold in France and the UK, issued by banks as unsecured debt instruments whose returns are linked to equity indices

Target Outcome Investments

Vest files patent application for System and Method of Outcome-Oriented Investing as it relates to 1940 Act products.

October 2012

Patent application

Vest (under the brand Convexcel) files for the first 1940 Act product that uses FLEX options to replicate a Buffer Protect Strategy of 10% on the S&P Index with upside cap.

May 2013

Vest creates Target Outcome Indexes ("Buffer Protect Index Series") with Cboe and S&P with agreement for exclusivity.

March 2016

Vest files for 13 Target Outcome Investment mutual funds, which seek to replicate the Buffer Protect Indexes.

March 2016

First Trust launches Buffer ETFs

2019

First Trust, in partnership with Cboe Vest, launches ETFs https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191106006048/en/Trust-Expand-ETF-Lineup-Target-Outcome-ETFs%C2%AE in the U.S, providing access to a continuously rolling Buffer Protect strategy, seeking to deliver the most tax-efficient version of the strategy on the market.