ETFs have been the latest big thing in the financial industry and even old dogs are beginning to pick up new tricks to compete in the changing landscape.
“It’s neat to see a lot of new solutions coming to market – Davis included – in terms of delivering new and unique things to help solve for investor demand, and it’s been exciting,” Dodd Kittsley, Director for Davis Advisors, said at the Charles Schwab Impact Conference.
As the popularity of ETFs grows, traditional open-end mutual fund managers, such as Davis Advisors, are hearing from clients that they also want all the benefits of the ETF structure coupled with the time-tested actively managed styles provided by money managers.
“There was a recognition that the ETF delivers so many advantages that are really compelling – the tax efficiency, the liquidity, the transparency. It really aligned with the way that we manage money, so we said ‘why not?'” Kittsley said.
Consequently, more traditional open-end fund managers are stepping into the ETF business. For instance, David Advisors launched the Davis Select U.S. Equity ETF (NasdaqGM: DUSA), Davis Select Financial ETF (NasdaqGM: DFNL), and Davis Select Worldwide ETF (NasdaqGM: DWLD). DUSA is managed by Christopher Davis and Danton Goei, a portfolio manager for the Davis Large Cap Value Portfolios and a member of the research team. Davis also manages DFNL while Goei manages DWLD.
“It’s really filling a need that’s been unmet in the marketplace, and that’s true, time-tested active management in a traditional ETF structure,” Kittsley added.
While the U.S.-listed ETF industry has ballooned to $3.4 trillion in assets under management with over 2,100 products listed on the market, there are only 205 actively managed ETFs with $45.7 billion in assets under management, according to XTF data, which leaves a lot of room for further growth.
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