Actively managed exchange-traded funds are having their time in the limelight as ETF managers seek new strategies beyond passive funds. "But with active management, you can differentiate assuming the active manager is actually doing something meaningfully different than the underlying benchmark," he added. While active ETFs have been around since 2008, the popularity took off in 2019 after the SEC eased launch restrictions. So far this year, the number of active ETFs that have launched have already overtaken passive ETFs by a ratio of three to one, according to Morningstar. While it's the firm's first active ETF, GMO has run a traditional actively managed mutual fund called the GMO Quality Fund (GQETX) since 2004.

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Persons: Nate Geraci, Morningstar, Franklin, It's, Tom Hancock, we've Organizations: Edge, SEC, Asset Bond, Quality