Institutional investors and financial planners will soon be able to access locally listed sector-based exchange traded funds (ETF) after Australian Index Investments (Aii) announced plans to launch six ETFs to the market in the next three months.

The suite includes the Aii S&P/ASX 200 Financials x-A-REIT, Aii S&P/ASX 200 Energy, Aii S&P/ASX 200 Industrials and Aii S&P/ASX 200 Resources.

Investors will also have access to the S&P/ASX 200 Financials and S&P/ASX 300 Metals and Mining.

Jim Socratous, managing director at Aii, said the sector-based ETFs would allow investors to apply an active strategy to a passive investment.

He said ETFs had become more popular in the past 12 months as financial advisers move to a ‘fee for service' remuneration model.

Indeed, ASX-hosted ETF information seminars have received more than 150 registrations across Sydney and Melbourne.

"With so many funds proving unable to beat the benchmark index during the global financial crisis, advisers find it difficult to justify the management fees of many funds," he said.

"The wide scale freezing of funds has also had an impact, with investors now wanting to know their funds are liquid at all times, not just when the manager decides to do so."