Fidelity confirms active ETFs to launch in coming weeks

After receiving approval from unitholders to create a new class of units for several of its funds, Fidelity International will launch four active ETFs by June 3.

Earlier this month, Financial Standard reported Fidelity's plans to expand its range of active ETFs, first introduced in 2018, with Fidelity International Australia managing director Lawrence Hanson saying the firm is "committed to making investing with us as easy as possible."

Now, Fidelity has confirmed it will launch the Fidelity Asia Fund, Fidelity India Fund, and Fidelity Global Future Leaders Fund as active ETFs on the ASX on May 31. This will be followed by the launch of the Fidelity Australian High Conviction Fund - until this week known as the Fidelity Australian Opportunities Fund - as an active ETF on June 3.

"Making these four strategies available as ETFs allows investors easy access to some of our most popular funds in Australia, with solid long-term track records.  Whether they are seeking exposure to offshore market opportunities like Asia, India or global small to mid-caps, or to a high quality concentrated Australian strategy, investors can now tap into our 400+ investment professionals in one simple trade," Hanson said.

"Investors enjoy the ease of investing and transacting through ETFs. We have seen growing demand for accessible and flexible investment solutions among Australian investors, and the ETF structure enables us to offer our clients an alternative option on how they invest in our products.

"That is why we are launching more of our top strategies through this vehicle."

They will sit alongside the Fidelity Global Emerging Markets Fund (Managed Fund) on the ASX. Meantime, the Fidelity Global Demographics Fund which was added to the ASX in 2021 will be delisted next month as a result of no longer being economically viable; at $8.12 million, the active units represent just 7.3% of the fund's total assets.

At the time that Fidelity sought unitholder approval to make a class of units available on the ASX for these four strategies, it did the same for the Fidelity Australian Equities Fund, Fidelity China Fund, Fidelity Global Equities Fund, and the Fidelity Hedged Global Equities Fund, signalling that these too could soon be available on an exchange.