First Trust Advisors has announced it has become the largest provider of US-listed actively managed ETFs, as of 31 July 2017, based on assets under management (AUM) and number of funds offered.

Ryan Issakainen, senior vice president, exchange-traded fund strategist at First Trust Advisors.

According to data from research house Morningstar, AUM across First Trust’s US-listed ETF suite as of the end of July amounted to $46.9 billion. This included $9.9bn within the company’s actively managed ETFs, representing 25.7% of approximately $38.6bn invested across the entire actively managed US-listed ETF industry.

First Trust launched its first ETF in 2005 and now offers 124 ETFs in the US, including 95 index-linked products and 29 actively managed funds. Its actively managed platform spans several asset classes and strategies, including fixed income, equity, alternatives, multi-asset, managed volatility, risk management and currency hedging.

“In addition to a robust line-up of passively managed ETFs, First Trust has been highly selective in developing a diversified line-up of actively managed ETFs, focusing on categories where we believe active management offers competitive advantages over passive benchmark indices,” said Ryan Issakainen, senior vice president, ETF strategist at First Trust. “Whether by active management or passive management, our goal is to provide the highest-quality tools for investment advisors.”

The global actively managed ETF industry has shown robust growth during the first half of 2017 with assets invested in these funds growing by 30.5% to reach a new record of $57 billion, according to research by ETFGI. First Trust had gathered the most net new assets into actively managed ETFs at that point, netting $2.6bn.

The number of active ETFs listed globally also grew by 20% to 364 in the first half of 2017. However, active funds remain a small part of the overall ETF/ETP landscape accounting for only 5% of the total number of ETFs listed globally and a mere 1.2% of global assets.