U.K. Firm Planning Absolute-Return ETF

If the emerging absolute-return exchange-traded funds succeed in delivering outsized returns at low cost, the one-two punch to the traditional mutual fund industry could gain steam, The Wall Street Journal reports.

One U.K. hedge fund manager, Marshall Wace, is planning to offer an absolute-return ETF on the London and Frankfurt exchanges and is aiming to raise $500 million, and last year, Deutsche Bank debuted a hedge fund-of-funds ETF that has more than $1 billion of assets under management.

These funds have the added benefit of offering daily liquidity, as they invest primarily in large-cap stocks traded on major exchanges. The six top-performing absolute-return hedge funds have delivered an average of 10.9% each year since their launch.