T Rowe Price can now launch four actively managed exchange-traded funds.

T Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW), the global investment manager with $ 1.1 trillion in assets under management, is making a foray into actively managed ETFs. It announced today that the SEC had granted the remaining approvals necessary for the launch of these ETFs.

“These latest milestones clear the path for T Rowe Price to introduce ETFs in an active management format that has characterized the firm’s investment approach for more than 80 years,” the firm said. It plans to list the ETFs on the NYSE Arca exchange.

T Rowe Price’s new active ETFs

The first active ETFs from the investment manager will be the Blue Chip Growth ETF, the Dividend Growth ETF, the Equity Income ETF, and the Growth Stock ETF.

• Same investment strategies and portfolio managers as their corresponding mutual funds
• Instead of tracking passive indices, the ETFs will employ the firm’s established strategic investing methodology
• They will provide the usual benefits of ETFs such as intraday trading, tax efficiency, cost structure, and real-time market-determined pricing
• The ETFs will feature a proprietary portfolio disclosure process
• The process will protect the intellectual property of the firm’s investment professionals

“By securing all of the necessary approvals for our active ETFs, we have reached a significant milestone that will enable us to bring T Rowe Price’s time-tested investment management capabilities to the ETF marketplace,” said Rob Sharps, Head of Investments, Group Chief Investment Officer. “When launched, these ETFs will be the only ones in the market informed by T Rowe Price’s strategic investing approach and supported by our global research platform of more than 600 investment professionals. We believe this makes them distinct.”

Growing demand for active management

Todd Rosenbluth, senior director of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA, said in an interview in CNBC’s ETF Edge on Friday that investors were taking a shine to the idea that active managers could do better than passive funds.

He cited the case of Ark Invest, a fund manager offering five transparent, actively managed ETFs. Ark had received the 10^th highest amount of inflows so far in 2020.

“We certainly think there’s demand for active management in the ETF wrapper,” Rosenbluth said.

T Rowe Price will launch its actively managed ETFs in 2020.

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