It's the latest front in the war between active management versus passive management. The booming take-up of exchange traded funds in Australia has turned the $19 billion sector into a target of criticism by active investors, the traditional stockpickers who have dominated the Australian equity markets.

ETFs are the easiest way to get exposure to almost any investment universe: equities, bonds, commodities, currencies and anything else that can be captured in an index. They are also cheap, and it's not uncommon to find an investment manager who uses ETFs in their stock picking.