Most exchange traded funds are passively managed portfolios that track indices of stocks and bonds. However, some firms such as Columbia Management oversee actively managed ETFs that try to beat rather than follow the benchmark.
ETF Trends Editor Tom Lydon recently sat down with Chet Chappell, Columbia Management’s Vice President of ETFs, to discuss the firm’s lineup of five active ETFs. It has a trio of stock funds and two fixed-income portfolios.
“With active management you’re just trying to beat a benchmark, you’re not trying to replicate that index,” Chappell says.
At the active ETFs, the management teams try to move in and out of securities based on research, he tells Lydon. Columbia, a subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP), acquired Grail Advisors and its ETF business in 2011.
Columbia’s managers also pilot mutual funds so they bring experience to the active ETFs, Chappell said.
Its five ETFs are Columbia Concentrated Large Cap Value Strategy Fund (NYSEArca: GVT), Columbia Growth Equity Strategy Fund (NYSEArca: RPX), Columbia Large-Cap Growth Equity Strategy Fund (NYSEArca: RWG), Columbia Intermediate Municipal Bond Strategy Fund (NYSEArca: GMMB) and Columbia Core Bond Strategy Fund (GMTB).
Watch the video to see the full interview.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of John Spence, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.