Bear unveils actively managed ETF

An actively managed exchange traded fund – the Bear Stearns Current Yield Fund (YYY) – will begin trading on the American Stock Exchange on March 18, Bear Stearns Asset Management of New York announced today. The ETF is composed of a variety of short-term fixed income instruments. It aims to generate higher returns than an average money market fund by investing in diversified, high-quality securities, including governments, municipal securities, bank obligations, corporate and securitized debt. The ETF will address the issue of transparency, which the Securities and Exchange Commission has required of ETFs, by disclosing its holding each day via a website: www.yyyfund.com. The expense ratio is expected to be 0.35%. If no other actively managed ETFs come to market before the Bear Stearns ETF, it will be the first such ETF, but it won’t be the last. PowerShares Capital Management Inc. of Wheaton, Ill., got exemptive relief earlier this month, allowing the company to proceed with the registration of proposed actively managed stock and bond ETFs. Bear Stearns also has plans to launch more actively managed ETFs, said Margo Cook, global head of the institutional business BSAM. “One of the reason do he first [actively managed ETF] is to follow it up,” she said.