Invesco PowerShares, the arm of Anglo-US asset manager Invesco that distributes exchange traded funds, has beat its competitors to market with what it says are the world's first actively-managed ETFs.

PowerShares Capital Management, acquired by Invesco in September last year, has filed plans with US regulators to introduce three actively-managed stock funds and a bond fund, according to the Wall Street Journal, part of the Dow Jones group which owns Financial News.