An interesting invitation plopped into reporters' inboxes this morning. Schwab is hosting an ETF event in New York City on August 10, and, in a departure from the usual corporate event, Schwab honchos will be sharing the spotlight with executives from rival ETF providers. Schwab debuted its proprietary ETFs last year and at the same time offers third-party ETFs on its platform.

The list of speakers doesn't appear to include officials from Vanguard and Fidelity, although BlackRock's iShares, which has a marketing agreement with Fidelity, will be represented on the panel.

"ETF experts will provide their point of view on broader industry trends with particular focus on the evolution of the ETF investor –- individuals and advisors –- and ways they are using ETFs today, from simple applications among average investors and traders to sophisticated strategies for high net worth investors," the invitation read.

Panelists include Peter Crawford, senior vice president at Charles Schwab & Co.; Michael Iachini, director at Charles Schwab Investment Advisor; Ben Fulton, managing director at Invesco PowerShares; Jim Ross, senior managing director at State Street Global Advisors and Sue Thompson, managing director at iShares.

Tom Lydon, publisher of ETF Trends and president of Global Trends Investments will also be part of the panel moderated by Scott Burns, director of ETF, CEF and alternative fund research at Morningstar.

So why did Schwab invite executives from other ETF providers to its own event?

"As a leader in the ETF space, Schwab is happy to provide a forum where some of the prominent players in the industry can come together and discuss developments of importance in the ETF world for investors, traders and advisors," wrote Crawford in an e-mail to The MFWire. "We're looking forward to a productive exchange of views that will hopefully help people make more informed decisions about this growing segment for investing." 

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