Eaton Vance Eyes ETFs

Eaton Vance is considering a foray into exchange-traded funds. Matthew Witkos, head of distribution, said the firm is talking with consultants about the possibility of active and passive ETFs. He said an Eaton Vance offering would likely target high-net-worth investors by pursuing tax management or other strategies that the firm specializes in. Witkos said Eaton Vance already receives many requests from clients for offerings that invest in other firms’ ETFs, and he thinks it could be a natural next step to roll out proprietary offerings.

Eaton Vance has launched other innovative strategies recently, such as a separately managed account that uses a quantitative model to by closed-end funds at a discount. That offering—the Enhanced Income SMA—was launched on the Smith Barney platform and the model it uses was built by Parametric.

“All those things are fair game right now,” said Witkos on the options of active and passive ETFs.