The new chief of an $88.1-billion-AUM (as of March 31), private equity-backed, multi-boutique asset manager is preparing to enter the ETF business more directly.

Jeffrey Karl "Jeff" Ringdahl Resolute Investment Managers / American Beacon Advisors President, CEO

Jeff Ringdahl, president and now CEO of Resolute Investment Managers and its American Beacon Advisors [profile] boutique, confirms that he and his team plan to build an ETF platform. The rough launch timeframe is 2023.

Though Resolute focuses on active boutiques (it owns majority stakes in six such boutiques, one of which is winding down), it is no stranger to the ETF space. Though active ETF startup Ark bought back Resolute's option to buy more of Ark and Resolute's minority stake in Ark, Resolute remains a key distribution ally for Ark.

"We've been seeking for quite some time to create our own ETF family," Ringdahl tells MFWire. "Clients have basically voted with their feet: mutual funds are losing market share to ETFs."

"This is going to be complementary to the American Beacon funds," Ringdahl adds, clarifying that they don't plan to convert existing American Beacon mutual funds into ETFs, nor do they expect to make clones of existing American Beacon funds.

The way Ringdahl sees it, the future product development process will have to include the question, "Will it fit in an ETF?" If the answer yes, then they'll launch the new fund in ETF form.

Ringdahl confirms that the Resolute team has hunted for an ETF platform to acquire "for quite some time."

"We just haven't found the right fit," Ringdahl says. "We've made the decision to push forward ... We will create it from scratch."

Ringdahl offers some hints as to what kind of ETFs the Resolute will be launching. Translucent ETFs (i.e. active non-transparent ETFs or ANTs) are not currently on the agenda.

"Right now we don't have plans to create semi-transparent ETFs," Ringdahl says. "They've worked well ... but our clients haven't gone full-bore."

"The distribution potential [for semi-transparent ETFs] is limited," Ringdahl adds. "We're going to take a bit of a 'wait and see' approach."

Yet Ringdahl does see the Resolute team launching active, fully transparent ETFs.

"We're true believers in active management," Ringdahl says.

Ringdahl adds that, while he doesn't like the "passive" label for investing, he's open to launching index ETFs, too.

"'Index' could be pretty dynamic, rules-based," Ringdahl says. "It's all in development right now. I do expect a combination of active and indexed capabilities." 

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