It’s no news that active funds have been on the losing end of inflows for a while. As index funds and ETFs have risen in popularity, active mutual funds have suffered increasing outflows, peaking at $962bn in 2022. But now, a lifeline in the form of active ETFs is taking the asset management industry by storm. But are active ETFs a saving grace for active managers, or just another tool in the tool belt?
‘It’s not just a defensive act,’ said Jodi Love, portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price, at the annual Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago on Thursday.
‘The assets that are leaving mutual funds … can reach a totally different subset of clients, and [this] allows us to do that in a new fashion. So we don’t see it as defensive, we see it as offensive,’ she went on to explain.
