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Over the past three years, the top strategic initiative among Product Strategy & Management teams has consistently expanded their range of investment vehicles and capabilities. Our recent survey revealed firms are achieving expansion within two areas where we get many questions: alternatives and active ETFs.

Alternatives

• Product Strategy & Management teams believe interval funds have the most potential to raise assets in both the short and long term of any alternative/private markets structure, and are the wrapper they would likely use to launch new alternative products.
• Out of any vehicle listed, interval funds saw the largest year-over-year increase in the number of firms offering.
• Private credit is the highest priority asset class for new product launches among respondents. Many believe private credit strategies will be their most in-demand product in the next 12-18 months.
• A common top business priority for Product Strategy & Management teams is to build their alternatives in the private wealth space, while many cited education/understanding of illiquidity in the products as the major hurdle to adoption.

Active ETFs

• All responding Product Strategy & Management teams indicated plans to offer active ETFs and/or launch new Active ETFs by the end of 2025, with all firms planning to expand their lineups in the calendar year.
• Active ETFs are the highest priority vehicle for new product launches among the respondents.
• Bringing important/well-regarded strategies in other wrappers into the ETF vehicle is the number one factor driving ETF product strategies among the respondents.
• A common top business priority for Product Strategy & Management teams is to continue to expand their pipelines of active ETFs.

A key throughline in our research is that bringing well-regarded, scalable strategies to the vehicle(s) that best meet the evolving needs of platforms, advisors and investors is increasingly important, and the most efficient and common method to expand a firm’s vehicle and capability offering.

To learn more about the product and distribution trends among asset managers and financial advisors, learn more about ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½'s Distribution Solutions team.