Forum Investment Advisors, an affiliate of Atlantic Fund Services, recently received regulatory approval to launch the Forum ETF Trust, allowing individual advisors to easily market their own investment strategy through an actively managed exchange traded fund structure.
According to a press release, the Trust stands out in that it will use an investment manager-investment advisor instead of an advisor-sub advisor structure.
“While FIA will serve as investment manager to the trust and has responsibility for certain compliance and oversight functions, the trust’s advisers have sole responsibility for investment decisions,” according to Atlantic Fund Services.
“The manager-adviser structure allows each adviser to contract directly with Forum ETF Trust and to manage portfolios under its own brand,” Stacey Hong, president of Atlantic, said. “Combined with the efficiencies of a shared ETF vehicle, this is an optimum, cost-effective, turn-key solution for independent advisers seeking to bring actively managed ETFs to market.”
Merk Investments is the first investment advisor to utilize the Forum ETF Trust structure. Merk has been working on adapting its flagship Hard Currency Mutual Fund (MERKX) into an ETF investment.
“Atlantic has been a tremendous partner in managing the ETF registration, listing and operational processes for us. Given the complexity and cost of launching an ETF, working with a trusted provider on a shared trust is the ideal solution for bringing the fund to market,” Axel Merk, President of Merk Investments, LLC, said in the press release.
Forum ETF Trust will be competing against a several “turn-key” styled ETF financial services firms, such as Exchange Traded Concepts, which promises to launch an ETF strategy in about 75 days and to reduce start-up costs, and AdvisorShares, another provider known for its actively managed ETFs.
For more information on actively managed funds, visit our actively managed ETFs category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.