FYI: In late 2017, ETF Managers Group made headlines when it swapped the benchmark for its Tierra XP Latin American Real Estate ETF (LARE) to the marijuana-focused Prime Alternative Harvest Index. The resultant fund, the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ), became the first pure-play marijuana ETF to hit the market (read: "When An ETF Changes Its Exposure").
At the time, the move shocked many industry participants and observers, but the index switch itself was and remains perfectly legal. That's because, for the vast majority of ETFs, there's no requirement that the index an ETF starts with must remain its benchmark forever.
By and large, that's a good thing. It gives ETF issuers the flexibility to swap indexes as needed, switching to a cheaper index provider or to a benchmark that tracks the intended investment objective more closely.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.etf.com/sections/features-and-news/why-do-etfs-change-indexes?nopaging=1
