At Natixis Investment Managers’ Thought Leadership Summit, held in Paris last week and attended by this news service, Fabrice Chemouny discussed the firm’s plans to launch an active exchange-traded fund.

As a number of investment managers expand their range of ETFs, Fabrice Chemouny (pictured), head of international distribution at Natixis Investment Managers, announced in Paris that they will launch a new active ETF in the second half of 2026.

“It’s an important area of focus,” Chemouny said at the Paris Summit. He told delegates that a lot of investment managers have been increasing their range of ETFs recently. “The ETF business grew significantly first in the US – which offers tax advantages for ETFs – and then everywhere in the world. We don’t have the same tax framework but many firms are going into ETFs,” he said. “Every day an announcement about a new active ETF is being launched by an asset manager.”

“We are not launching a range of ETFs for the pleasure of doing it. We are always focusing on the market climate. We will participate in the party, but in a very selective manner,” Chemouny said at the Paris Summit.

An ETF is a basket of securities such as stocks and/or bonds that are held in a single fund that is bought or sold on an exchange. The market has surged in recent years as investors and advisors have sought lower-cost ways of obtaining market exposure.

In the US, ETFs offer superior tax efficiency through so-called “in-kind” redemptions that minimise capital gains tax. While in the EU, Irish-domiciled (UCITS) ETFs are favoured, as Ireland has a range of tax treaties which can, for instance, reduce withholding taxes on US dividends to 15 per cent.

US-headquartered investment managers Franklin Templeton and Invesco have been boosting their range of ETFs recently. US-based State Street Investment Management has published its 2025 EMEA Wealth Manager Survey recently, showing that ETFs remain dominant, with rising demand. In a time of macroeconomic uncertainty and industry change, the survey shows that 88 per cent of wealth managers expect to use ETFs more frequently in client portfolios. Dimensional Fund Advisors, a large US-based active exchange-traded fund manager, has also officially launched its first active European ETF.

Paris-based asset manager Ossiam, a subsidiary of Natixis Investment Managers, whose CEO Bruno Poulin attended the Paris Summit, is an exchange-traded funds specialist. See more here about Ossiam.

Natixis Investment Managers, which is headquartered in Paris and Boston, has more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management.