The Securities and Exchange Commission, by law, gets between 60 and 75 days to review proposed new funds before they can be offered for sale to the public. Each month, Funds in Registration gives you a peek into the new product pipeline. Most funds currently in registration will not become available until late February.
We found 24 funds in the pipeline. What stands out is the rise of the non-transparent, active ETFs. Here’s the breakdown:
7 traditional mutual funds
12 active ETFs
5 non-transparent active ETFs.
That latter category includes the ETF version of five very large funds, one from Fidelity and four from T. Rowe Price. Each of the Price ETFs will hold a 10-12 bps cost advantage over its already low-cost doppelganger. If the rumored move to allow direct conversion of a mutual fund into a non-transparent ETF comes to fruition, there’s going to be a major tectonic shift in the investment landscape and I’m going to need to rename our site.
AAF First Priority CLO Bond ETF
AAF First Priority CLO Bond ETF, an actively-managed ETF, seeks capital preservation and income. The plan is to invest in “AAA-rated first priority debt tranches of U.S. dollar-dominated collateralized loan obligations.” The fund will be managed by Peter Coppa and Scott Farrell of Alternative Access Funds. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed.
Fidelity Opportunistic ETF
Fidelity Opportunistic ETF, an actively-managed non-transparent ETF, seeks long-term growth of capital. The plan is to build a global portfolio of both growth and value stocks. None of the practical details such as who’ll manage the fund or what it will cost has been disclosed. That said, the $7 billion Fidelity Series Opportunistic Insights Fund (FVWSX) is managed by Will Danoff. That’s the only fund in the Fidelity stable which uses the titular term “Opportunistic.”
Franklin Liberty Ultra Short Bond ETF
Franklin Liberty Ultra Short Bond ETF, an actively-managed ETF, seeks “a high level of current income as is consistent with prudent investing, while seeking preservation of capital.” That’s so cautious it’s almost cute. The plan is to invest in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds with a substantial portion of its assets in cash, cash equivalents, and high-quality money market securities. “Ultra short” means under one year, on average. The fund will be managed by a team from Franklin Templeton Portfolio Advisors. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed.
Invesco Multi-Sector Bond Income Factor ETF
Invesco Multi-Sector Bond Income Factor ETF, an actively-managed ETF, seeks total return. The goal is to beat their index. The plan is to create a fairly global bond portfolio but to base holdings on “quantifiable issuer characteristics,” which are the “factors” in the name. In the equivalent of a “smart beta” strategy, the portfolio will typically overweight “value bonds (bonds that have high spreads relative to other securities of similar credit quality and/or sector); low volatility bonds (bonds that have lower levels of price volatility); and high carry bonds (bonds with higher absolute yield or spread).” The fund will be managed by Jay Raol, Sash Sarangi, James Ong and Noelle Corum of Invesco Advisers. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed. The same prospectus announces Invesco Intermediate Bond Factor and Invesco Short-Term Bond Factor ETFs using the same strategy and same investment team. A separate prospectus lists Invesco Corporate Bond Factor ETF and Invesco High Yield Bond Factor ETF.
Hartford Core Bond ETF
Hartford Core Bond ETF, an actively-managed ETF, seeks long-term total return. The plan is to invest primarily in investment-grade, government and corporate, domestic and foreign, bonds. They might invest in private placements and up to 25% might be non-US. The unifying feature is that Wellington finds them “attractive.” The portfolio duration will stay within 1.5 years of its Bloomberg Barclay US Aggregate Bond benchmark. The fund will be managed by Joseph F. Marvan, Campe Goodman, and Robert D. Burn of Wellington Management. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed.
Lyrical International Value Equity Fund
Lyrical International Value Equity Fund will seek long-term capital growth. The plan is to invest in stocks of mid-capitalization and large-capitalization companies with low valuations relative to their long-term normalized earnings. The fund will be managed by John Mullins and Dan Kaskawits of Lyrical Asset Management. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed, and the minimum initial investment will be $2500.
Masters Concentrated Small Cap Value Fund
Masters Concentrated Small Cap Value Fund, a Litman Gregory fund-of-funds, will seek long-term growth of capital. The plan is to hire a star manager who will invest in their 20-40 best ideas. The fund will be managed by as-yet-unnamed sub-advisers who LG consider “masters” in the asset class. Its opening expense ratio is 0.99%, and the minimum initial investment will be $10,000. That’s reduced to $1000 for tax-advantaged accounts and $2,500 for accounts with an automatic-investing commitment.
Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund Permanence Portfolio
Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund Permanence Portfolio will seek long-term capital appreciation. The plan is to make long-term investments in companies that survive ESG screening and have the most durable long-term competitive advantages. The fund will be managed by a large team from Morgan Stanley. The opening expense ratio for “A” shares is 1.25% with a nominal 5.25% sales load and $1,000 minimum initial investment.
Polen Global Emerging Markets Growth Fund
Polen Global Emerging Markets Growth Fund will seek long-term growth of capital. The plan is to build a concentrated portfolio of high-quality growth companies that it believes have a competitive advantage and can deliver sustainable, above-average earnings growth. The fund is flagged as “non-diversified,” which always signals the prospect for abnormal volatility; one might expect that to be especially true in underdeveloped markets. The fund will be managed by an as-yet-unnamed individual from Polen Capital UK LLP. Its opening expense ratio is 1.50%, and the minimum initial investment will be $3,000, reduced to $2,000 for accounts with an AIP and for various tax-advantaged accounts. For institutional shares, the corresponding figures are 1.25% and $100,000.
SPDR [SSGA Responsible Reserves ESG] ETF
SPDR [SSGA Responsible Reserves ESG] ETF, an actively-managed ETF, will seek to maximize current income, consistent with the preservation of capital and liquidity while giving consideration to ESG. I suppose the brackets signals some sort of ambivalence about the fund’s final name. The plan is to eliminate issuers in troublesome industries (“Civilian Firearms”) or categories (“Extreme Event Controversies”), then to eliminate issuers for whom too little ESG data is available, then score the remainder. In the end, you’ll have a clean fund that’s a bit more aggressive than a money market but a bit less aggressive than an ultra-short bond fund. The fund will be managed by Thomas Connelley and Karyn Corridan of SSGA. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed.
Syntax Stratified U.S. Equities ETF
Syntax Stratified U.S. Equities ETF, an actively-managed ETF, seeks to be the S&P Composite 1500 Index. The plan is unclear, in part because the prospectus is incomplete. It looks like they’ll use ETFs and individual securities to selectively overweight large-cap, mid-cap or small-cap stocks. The fund will be managed by Vantage Consulting Group. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed.
T. Rowe Price
- Rowe Price is planning to launch ETF clones of four of its most domestic popular funds. They describe them as “semi-transparent exchange-traded funds.” Unlike traditional ETFs, the funds will not publish their portfolios daily. Instead, at the end of each day, they’ll release “a proxy portfolio” which is “a basket of securities that closely tracks the daily performance of the fund’s portfolio holdings. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the fund’s holdings, it is not the fund’s actual portfolio.” Price notes that, by releasing incomplete information to investors, “the fund’s shares may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than shares of ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis, especially during periods of market disruption and volatility, and, therefore, may cost you more to trade.” In exchange, investors receive the structural advantages of an ETF which will include lower expenses and fewer short-term capital gains bills. The new ETFs and their expense ratios will be:
|
Name (mutual fund ticker) |
ETF expenses |
Fund expenses |
|
Blue Chip Growth (PRBCX) |
0.57% |
0.70% |
|
Dividend Growth (PRDGX) |
0.50 |
0.64 |
|
Equity Income (PRFDX) |
0.54 |
0.64 |
|
Growth Stock (PRGFX) |
0.52 |
0.66 |
I’ve included the tickers for the mutual funds as a research aid for readers beginning their due diligence. Other than for those structural changes, the new ETFs are clones of the existing funds.
TFA Quantitative Fund
TFA Quantitative Fund, a fund of ETFs, will seek capital growth. The plan is to use “signals” from its computer to seek one of three things: (1) 100% exposure to the NASDAQ 100 Index, (2) up to 150% exposure to the S&P 500 Index or (3) up to 100% exposure to an inverse S&P 500 index. The fund will be managed by Meghan S. Paul and Rich M. Paul of Potomac Advisors. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed, and the minimum initial investment for the no-load “A” class shares will be $500; the institutional share class is open only to the adviser’s clients and will charge $500 to get in. The prospectus describes the $500 required for “I” shares as “higher minimum initial investment than Class A shares.” Since these folks are quants, I’m sure they apprehend the reason that $500 > $500 better than I.
TFA Multidimensional Tactical Fund
TFA Multidimensional Tactical Fund will seek capital growth. The basic portfolio is 50% individual stocks and 50% fixed income ETFs. Based on their analysis of “multiple variables over four different lookback periods,” they’ll shift – frequently, they say – between stocks, bonds and cash. The fund will be managed by Theodore J. Doremus of Preston Wealth Advisors. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed, and the minimum initial investment for the no-load “A” class shares will be $500.
TrueMark AI & Deep Learning ETF
TrueMark AI & Deep Learning ETF, an actively-managed ETF, will seek total return. The plan is to invest in the stock of artificial intelligence and deep learning companies. The manager classifies those companies as one of three sorts (secular growth, cyclical growth, and newly-public) and has different selection criteria for each category. The fund will be managed by Sangbum Kim of Black Hill Capital Partners. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed.
TrueMark ESG Active Opportunities ETF
TrueMark ESG Active Opportunities ETF, an actively-managed ETF, seeks total return. The plan is to score US large-cap stocks on their greenhouse gas emissions and use of ESG “best practices.” They then do some sort of valuation analysis. “Some sort of” just reflects my confusion: they estimate that their total investable universe based on ESG screening is 100-150 companies and that, after valuation analysis, they’ll invest in 100-150 of them. The fund will be managed by Jordan C. Waldrep and Linda H. Zhang of Purview Investments. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed.
Wells Fargo Municipal Sustainability Fund
Wells Fargo Municipal Sustainability Fund will seek current income exempt from federal income tax. The plan is to buy muni bonds funding projects “which have a positive ESG impact.” They may invest up to 10% of their assets in “inverse floaters” to seek enhanced returns. Inverse floaters are a sort of derivative which is allowed to use leverage to increase returns. The fund will be managed by a three-person Wells Fargo team. Its opening expense ratio has not been disclosed, though the “A” shares carry a 4.5% load and $1000 minimum initial investment.
