Fee Advisor Journal | June 2026
The investment landscape is undergoing a structural transformation. While the debate was long confined to “passive vs. active management,” the convergence of technology, cost reduction, and the pursuit of performance has today created two promising new frontiers: actively managed ETFs and mutual funds with “Clean Share Classes.”
By 2026, with the European active ETF market surpassing €85 billion in assets, Italian investors have access to instruments that combine the flexibility of exchange-traded funds with the expertise of professional managers. At the same time, the MiFID II directive has prompted investment firms to offer “clean” fund share classes, eliminating commission rebates paid to distributors.
For many observers (66% of professionals surveyed by Finer), active ETFs represent the best of both worlds: they are collective investment undertakings (CIUs) tradable on the stock exchange in real time—much like equities—yet their composition does not slavishly replicate an index. Instead, a management team actively selects securities with the aim of outperforming the benchmark.
There are three advantages to active ETFs: 1) transparency and liquidity—being listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, they allow for entry and exit at any time during the day, unlike traditional funds that value shares only once daily; 2) competitive costs—although more expensive than passive ETFs, active ones have lower costs than traditional mutual funds. In Europe, active equity ETFs have an average cost of around 26 basis points, significantly lower than traditional active funds (often exceeding 1%); 3) dynamic management—the manager can adjust the portfolio to provide protection during market downturns.
A separate case is that of “Clean Share Class” mutual funds, which 57% of commissioned financial advisors and 85% of fee-only advisors characterize primarily by their transparency and low cost. Traditional mutual funds include retrocessions—a portion of the annual management fees that the asset management company passes on to the bank distributing the product. “Clean Share Classes” are fund classes from which these distribution costs have been eliminated.
There are three main reasons for choosing these funds: 1) lower costs—by eliminating retrocessions, the fund’s TER (Total Expense Ratio) decreases, improving the investor’s net return; 2) transparency—the investor pays only for advice and management, without hidden placement costs; 3) suitability—they are ideal for independent advisors or those who have adopted a fee-only advisory model.
Active ETFs are seeing record inflows, driven primarily by high-quality equity and fixed-income strategies that come at a lower cost than traditional active funds.
“Clean share class” funds offer a broader range of strategies, including niche thematic funds not yet available in ETF format.
It is almost certain that active ETFs and clean share class funds will take center stage in the near future. Active ETFs will progressively replace the majority of active funds, establishing themselves as a dynamic, low-cost alternative—ideal for those seeking transparency and operational agility. Meanwhile, clean share class funds represent the perfect solution for investors seeking long-term active management without paying distribution fees.
Industry professionals appear to be aligned on these trends, as do their clients; it seems, then, to be a future already written.