As the year winds to a close, yet another major financial services company has thrown its hat into the ETF ring.

Goldman Sachs filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission today paving the way for the investment banking giant to begin offering its own exchange-traded funds.

The so-called 40-APP filing asks for broad relief from the SEC to launch a variety of funds, including equity, fixed-income and blended portfolios. However, the filing only mentions index-based ETFs—not actively managed ones—which is interesting, given that Goldman is better known for its active management strategies.

Both the equity and fixed-income funds will also be allowed to utilize cash and in-kind redemptions, which should help keep spreads narrow. No mention was made of fees or what indexes would be used.

A 40-APP is not a definitive signal that a firm will begin launching ETFs in the near future, but it does seem likely that 2010 could see the first ETFs from Goldman hit the market.

Goldman isn’t exactly a stranger to exchange-traded products though: It launched the GS Connect S&P GSCI Enhanced Commodity Total Return Strategy Index Exchange-Traded Note (NYSEArca: GSC) in the summer of 2007. That fund currently has more than $60 million in assets, making it one of the larger ETNs currently trading.

It also part of Source ETFs, a joint venture with Morgan Stanley that offers a suite of ETFs in Europe.

You can read the 40-APP filing here.