Royal London Asset Management is preparing to enter Europe’s active ETF market with two equity tilt products, marking the latest move by a large UK asset manager into the fast-growing ETF segment.
The Royal London Global Equity Tilt UCITS ETF and Royal London UK Broad Equity Tilt UCITS ETF have been filed for registration with the Central Bank of Ireland, according to ETF Stream. The products will give investors access to Royal London’s established “tilt” approach, which combines broad equity market exposure with a systematic process that adjusts portfolios towards companies with stronger ESG characteristics.
The planned ETFs follow the launch of the Royal London Global Equity Tilt Fund, an open-ended vehicle, earlier this year, which was added to the group’s wider Equity Tilt range. The strategy seeks to deliver diversified global equity exposure while managing the portfolio’s carbon footprint, with a targeted footprint at least 10% below the benchmark and longer-term emissions reduction goals aligned with net zero by 2050.
Royal London describes its tilt range as a low-risk alternative to traditional active and passive funds, using active stewardship alongside a systematic investment process. The approach is designed to retain broad market exposure while tilting away from companies with weaker governance or sustainability characteristics.
The filings come after Royal London appointed Steve Palmer as head of ETF solutions last year, a newly created role focused on developing the group’s actively managed ETF range. The move placed Royal London alongside a growing list of UK asset managers looking to use ETFs as a new distribution channel for active and systematic strategies.
Our view
David Batchelor, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “The Royal London filings are another sign that active ETFs in Europe are moving beyond specialist providers and into the mainstream asset management market. What stands out here is that Royal London is not simply repackaging a high-conviction stock-picking strategy in an ETF wrapper. Instead, it is bringing a systematic, low-tracking-error equity tilt approach to the structure, sitting somewhere between traditional passive exposure and fully active management. That could prove an important middle ground for investors who want the convenience, transparency and tradability of ETFs, but also want portfolios that reflect stewardship, governance and carbon considerations more deliberately than a standard index tracker”.
