A revolutionary experiment to sell actively managed products through low-fee exchange-traded funds is set to be launched by State Street Global Advisors.

At present, ETFs are mainly indexed products. But speaking after a Financial News' ETF conference last week, James Ross, SSgA global head of ETFs, said: "I never used to believe ETFs would spread into active management, but now I can see the potential." He added that financial advisers are increasingly keen to recommend them to clients.