After years of review by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the first nontransparent ETFs have come to market. The American Century Focused Dynamic Growth ETF (FDG) and American Century Focused Large Cap Value ETF (FLV) started trading Thursday on the Cboe BZX Exchange, using Precidian Investments' ActiveShares methodology.
The structure, which American Century labels as "semi-transparent," allows portfolio managers to manage fund assets without disclosing fund holdings on a daily basis, as required for traditional ETFs, thereby protecting their "secret sauce." Holdings for the two new American Century ETFs will be disclosed quarterly with a 15-day lag.
Both ETFs are relatively concentrated portfolios of 40 to 60 stocks each. Focused Dynamic Growth invests in what American Century describes as "early and rapid stage large-cap growth companies with the potential to increase in value over time," and has an expense ratio of 45 basis points.
Focused Large Cap Value invests in "high quality companies that the portfolio managers believe are temporarily selling at a discount," and has an expense ratio of 42 basis points.