Katie Keir After working hard for a few years on a new back-office module, Sterling Mutuals Inc. is expanding its product shelf to include ETFs. Despite the pressures of the pandemic and not having an IIROC-licensed business arm through which it could process trades more easily — a boon that helped the few mutual fund dealers who were first to enter the ETF space — Sterling wanted to help its advisors compete. “I think [this] helps to put the advisors on more even footing with IIROC guys,” said Nelson Cheng, CEO of Sterling Mutuals, during an interview with Advisor’s Edge. The firm got final approval for its ETF module from the MFDA in mid-April, followed by a limited pilot phase.