BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) plans to launch its first active equity ETFs as it earmarks 10 new products by the end of 2024.
Speaking to ETF Stream, Lorraine Sereyjol-Garros (pictured), global head of development for ETFs and index funds at BNPP AM, said the firm would also look to expand its active fixed income ETF range.
Sereyjol-Garros said the decision is “mainly driven by client appetite” and would mark the French asset manager's first foray into the active equity ETF space.
“Clients are looking for a low tracking error product in ESG and for us, active ETFs are a useful way to achieve this,” she said.
“The main idea behind the new launches is to include the BNP ESG methodology but also minimise the tracking error.”
It comes after the asset manager debuted its first active ESG exclusions ETFs in February, with the launch of the BNP Paribas Easy Sustainable EUR Government Bond UCITS ETF (BJLM) and BNP Paribas Easy Sustainable EUR Corporate Bond UCITS ETF (BJLN).
The launches were aptly timed given the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) updating rules to allow the listing of active ETFs on Euronext Paris for the first time in April.
Sereyjol-Garros also recently told attendees at an ETFGI event the French player will target alpha-generating active ETFs that also employ ESG goals.
BNPP AM’s CEO Sandro Pierri recently warned that directing too many flows into passive strategies – dominated by US equities – could have “unintended consequences” for Europe’s capital markets.
He noted that the growth of active ETFs has the potential to close the gap between active and passive, driving the former’s comeback over the next decade.
