Raymond James Bets Big on Active ETFs with Strategic Fund Conversion

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – August 03, 2026 – Raymond James Investment Management executed a significant strategic maneuver today, converting its long-standing Carillon ClariVest Capital Appreciation Mutual Fund into an actively managed exchange-traded fund. The new vehicle, the RJ ClariVest Capital Appreciation ETF (NYSE: RJCA), began trading this morning, marking a pivotal step in the firm's accelerating push into one of the market's most dynamic sectors.

The move is more than a simple product launch; it represents a calculated bet on the future of asset management and a direct response to the evolving demands of modern investors. By migrating a successful, time-tested strategy from a traditional mutual fund structure into the more flexible and potentially tax-efficient ETF wrapper, Raymond James is joining a wave of asset managers reshaping the investment landscape. This conversion, the firm's fourth ETF launch since it entered the market in late 2025, solidifies its commitment to building a formidable presence in the active ETF arena.

“We're excited to expand our ETF lineup with RJCA, giving advisors and investors another way to access the differentiated investment capabilities of our boutique teams,” commented Matt Johnson, Head of Commercial Strategy at Raymond James Investment Management. “We remain committed to providing advisors and investors with access to differentiated investment strategies through the vehicles that best meet their evolving needs.”

The Great Conversion: A Structural Shift in Investing

The decision to convert a mutual fund into an ETF is emblematic of a powerful undercurrent in the global economy: the relentless pursuit of efficiency. For years, the mutual fund was the dominant vehicle for pooled investments, but the ETF structure has steadily eroded that dominance by offering distinct advantages. The primary driver is tax efficiency. Unlike mutual funds, which must often realize capital gains to meet redemptions, the unique in-kind creation and redemption process of ETFs allows them to minimize taxable distributions to shareholders, a compelling feature for investors in taxable accounts.

Beyond taxes, ETFs provide intraday liquidity, allowing investors to buy and sell shares throughout the trading day at market prices, much like individual stocks. This contrasts with mutual funds, which are priced only once per day at their net asset value (NAV). This flexibility, combined with typically lower operating expenses, has made the ETF wrapper increasingly attractive.

For asset managers like Raymond James, conversions offer a strategic pathway to modernize their offerings while retaining valuable assets under management and the performance history of an established strategy. The predecessor to RJCA, the Carillon ClariVest Capital Appreciation Fund, was a core holding with a strong track record. As Susan Walzer, President of the firm’s Family of Funds, noted, “The Capital Appreciation Fund has been a core portfolio holding for many of our long-tenured clients for many years. Now, advisors and investors can access that same investment strategy through the flexibility of the ETF structure.”

A Curated Strategy for a Crowded Market

Raymond James Investment Management, which oversees more than $171 billion in assets, is not simply chasing a trend. Its expansion into ETFs appears deliberate and curated. The firm's first three active ETFs, launched in October 2025, were all income-focused strategies managed by its boutique affiliate, Eagle Asset Management. The launch of RJCA, a U.S. large-cap growth fund managed by a different boutique, ClariVest Asset Management, signals a diversification of its ETF shelf.

This multi-boutique model is central to the company's strategy. It allows the parent firm to leverage the specialized expertise of distinct investment teams, each with its own philosophy and process, and package them for broader distribution. It's a way to offer institutional-class, differentiated strategies in a vehicle that is accessible to a wider audience of financial advisors and individual investors.

Johan Grahn, Head of ETFs at Raymond James Investment Management, emphasized this point. “RJCA combines a time-tested investment strategy with the benefits of the ETF structure, giving advisors and investors another way to access ClariVest's differentiated investment strategy,” he said. His comment about continuing to build “a thoughtfully curated suite of active ETFs” suggests that RJCA is a key piece in a larger, methodical build-out rather than a one-off launch.

Decoding ClariVest's 'Behavioral Edge'

What truly sets RJCA apart in the competitive large-cap growth category is the investment philosophy of its management team. ClariVest Asset Management, led by portfolio co-managers Ed Wagner, Frank Feng, Amanda Freeman, and Todd Wolter, employs a behavioral-based approach. The core of this philosophy is the belief that market opportunities arise from the inefficient ways investors react to changes in a company's fundamental growth cycle.

In practice, the ClariVest team seeks to identify moments when market expectations fall out of sync with a company's underlying business reality. They argue that human biases—such as overreaction to negative news or a lag in recognizing a fundamental turnaround—create mispricings. By using quantitative tools to screen for these discrepancies and then applying deep fundamental analysis, they aim to invest in companies with underappreciated long-term growth potential before the broader market catches on.

This is not a new or untested theory. The predecessor mutual fund, particularly its Class I shares (HRCIX), established an impressive long-term track record dating back to 2006 and held a prestigious Gold Medalist Rating from Morningstar as of May 2026. This rating indicated a high probability of future outperformance against peers, validating the efficacy of the behavioral-based strategy. By porting this exact strategy and its seasoned management team into the RJCA ETF, Raymond James is offering the market a proven engine in a modernized chassis.

The strategy targets large-cap stocks that appear undervalued relative to their long-term growth in earnings and cash flow. This focus on finding growth at a reasonable price, powered by a disciplined process designed to exploit market psychology, provides a differentiated edge in a market often dominated by momentum-driven and passive index strategies. As the global economy navigates complex currents of innovation, inflation, and geopolitical tension, such an active, fundamentals-driven approach may prove increasingly valuable for discerning investors.