Invesco PowerShares president and CEO Bruce Bond is one of the few executives in the asset management industry who doesn't cringe at the memory of how business went in 2008.

"We think, considering the marketplace and the financial meltdown, we were very happy with how things went in 2008 and we have high hopes for 2009," Bond told The MFWire in a recent phone interview.

"In 2008, PowerShares was still positive," he added.

Invesco PowerShares ended 2008 with total franchise assets of $26.75 billion. The Wheaton, Illinois-based firm, which was acquired by Invesco in 2006, currently offers 135 ETFs and 19 ETNs.

In mid-January, Invesco PowerShares filed with the SEC to launch two actively managed ETFs that will invest in non-agency mortgage-backed securities collateralized by pools of prime and Alternative-A residential mortgage loans (see The MFWire, 01/27/09).

With many Prime and Alt-A residential mortgage-backed securities well below their fundamental values, Bond hopes that the ETFs will provide access and transparency into those markets, along with additional liquidity originally intended by the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

During the interview, Bond also gave a glimpse into Invesco PowerShares' future advertising plan.

"We plan to give people a better perspective of the depth and breadth of the PowerShares product line," he said.

The message in the ads will be "a bit different," from prior ones, according to Bond. "There'll be more focus on the benefits of ETFs, as well as what we hope to be an eventual recovery, how to use ETFs to participate in that," he said. 

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