ETF Managers Trust filed a prospectus in mid-February for a marijuana-based ETF with the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) referring to the fund as Emerging Agrosphere ETF. The fund tracks the performance of the Emerging Agrosphere Index, a gauge created by BE Asset Management that comprises the exchange-listed common stock (or corresponding American Depositary or Global Depositary Receipts) of companies across the world that engage in lawful medical research intended to lead to the production of government-approved prescription drugs using natural or synthetic versions of the cannabidiol CBD and other cannabis-based extracts, are involved in the production or sale of products which are legal derivatives of industrial hemp, or are involved in the supply chain of either category of company.
The fund will not track marijuana as a commodity and will not invest in any companies that are focused on serving the non-medical marijuana market in the United States, Canada or any other country unless the production and sale of non-medical marijuana becomes legal in the US, Canada or such other country, respectively. The shares comprised in the index are not disclosed in the prospectus but ETF Managers Trust said they are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca. Timothy Collins, senior portfolio manager, and Travis Trampe, portfolio manager, have been the fund's portfolio managers since its inception in 2017. Marijuana sales grew 30% in 2016 in the US.
Deutsche Asset Management has launched a new range of physically-replicated db X-trackers fixed income core ETFs. The fixed income Core range provides exposure to Eurozone and US government bonds, to the euro and US dollar corporate bond markets, and to the euro-denominated high-yield corporate bond market. Euro-hedged share classes of those ETFs providing exposure to USD corporate bond and US government bond markets are also available as part of the fixed income Core range. In establishing the fixed income Core range the db x-trackers II EUR corporate bond Ucits ETF (DR) and the db x-trackers Barclays USD corporate bond Ucits ETF (DR) have had their annual all-in fees reduced from 0.2% to 0.16% per annum. The db X-trackers equity Core ETFs range was established in 2014, providing major equity benchmark exposure starting with a 0.07% all-in fee per annum. All db X-trackers Core ETFs use direct physical replication.
China Post Global is gearing up to launch its first ETFs in the UK after acquiring Royal Bank of Scotland's ETF range last year. The first fund, which is due to be listed in early April, will be a China onshore equity smart beta ETF, applying a minimum variance strategy to the China A-Shares market. The Hong Kong-headquartered asset manager claims the fund will be the first China smart beta ETF in Europe.
The company also plans to launch a further China A-Shares smart beta ETF in the second quarter, with both funds undergoing regulatory approval in Luxembourg, according to Danny Dolan, managing director at China Post. 'Putting China and smart beta together, apart from being something that has not been done before in Europe, is also a very good fit with our own strengths; these are the competitive edges that we have to capitalise on,' said Dolan. China Post Global acquired RBS's 10-strong Market Access ETF range, which had €360m (£284m) of assets and specialises in commodities and emerging and frontier markets last March.
The ETF Forum, the independent partnership of leading exchange traded product providers created in 2016, has announced that S&P Dow Jones Indice will join the next series of adviser roadshows, which kicks off on June 6. S&P Dow Jones Indices will join the next set of seminars, presenting alongside existing members BMO Global Asset Management, ETF Securities, WisdomTree and the London Stock Exchange.
S&P Dow Jones Indices will seek to provide a perspective on the adoption of index-based solutions worldwide and will discuss how its experience with US-based advisors can be applied in the UK. A wider variety of topics will also be included in the next series of roadshows, including how and why ETFs have been adopted in other global markets, such as Canada and Australia. Last year, nearly three-quarters of attendees (72%) said the ETF Forum had changed their desire to include ETFs in client portfolios, and almost 90% said they anticipate using lower cost funds for their clients in the next two years.
Source, the London-based exchange-traded fund provider, has launched Europe's first Ucits fund based purely on financial technology companies. The Source KBW Nasdaq fintech Ucits ETF aims to track the KBW Nasdaq Financial Technology Index, which captures fintech companies publicly-listed in the US, including Paypal, Visa and newer entrants like point-of-sale payment app Square, with market capitalisations ranging from under $1bn to over $150bn. The 50 companies are weighted equally to ensure performance comes from across the sector and is not dominated by the largest players. The fintech ETF is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The growth of fintech accelerated after the financial crisis, when traditional financial services were under extreme pressure just as consumer behaviour was changing and technologies such as smartphones, cloud computing and big data were taking off, according to Chris Mellor, executive director, equity product management at Source. In a recent survey of 71 institutional investors interviewed by the company in February 2017, nearly half (46%) said they anticipate 2017 being a record year for investment in fintech, but the same percentage said a lack of investment vehicles is a hindrance to getting more exposure. The financial services sector identified as being most at risk from fintech disruptors was consumer banking (59%); followed by payments (43%), financial advice (30%), foreign exchange (30%), asset management (27%), wealth management (20%) and life insurance (20%).
Wisdomtree has launched a smart beta physical Ucits ETF tracking the India market. The Wisdomtree India quality Ucits ETF on the London Stock Exchange, offering smart beta exposure to Indian stocks based on quality as measured by above average returns on assets and return on equity. The new Ucits ETF which tracks the Wisdomtree India Quality Index based on the top 33% of companies using a combined ranking of the three-year average return on assets and equity. The index constituents are then weighted by market capitalisation. These factors have provided consistent exposure to quality stocks, offering the potential to deliver above average risk adjusted returns.
The fund has the advantage of diversification, with over 100 constituents, and a broad sector exposure tilted towards the core drivers of growth in the Indian economy, according to Nizam Hamid, ETF strategist at Wisdomtree. 'With a favourable global macro environment, decisive policy-making and exciting growth trends, India has a compelling strategic as well as tactical allocation investment case,' said Hamid in a statement. The fund lists on the London Stock Exchange following a listing on the Borsa Italiana and Deutsche Börse last week.
Assets invested in active ETFs/ETPs listed globally reached a record high of US$46bn at the end of January 2017, according to ETFGI's January 2017 global active ETF and ETP industry insights report. According to the ETF research and consultancy firm, record levels of assets were reached at the end of January for active ETFs/ETPs listed globally with $45.57bn, in the United States with $31.08bn, in Canada with $6.14bn, in Asia Pacific with $2.05bn and in Japan with $107m. At the end of January 2017, the Global active ETF/ETP industry had 320 ETFs/ETPs, with 413 listings, assets of $46bn, from 64 providers listed on 16 exchanges. In January 2017, active ETFs/ETPs gathered net inflows of $1.51bn. Active ETF/ETP assets have increased by 4.6% from $43,55m in December 2016 to $45,57m in January 2017. According to ETFGI, 68% of the assets in active ETFs/ETPs are in the 170 active products that are domiciled and listed in the United States. 72% of the assets in active ETFs/ETPs are in the 103 active fixed income products. First Trust gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in January with $394m, followed by iShares with $243m and Source with $192m net inflows.
ETFGI has also reported that assets invested in smart beta equity ETFs/ETPs listed globally reached a record high $534bn at the end of January 2017. By region, assets stood at $476.85bn in the US, $36.82bn in Europe, $12.92bn in Canada and $4.73bn in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan). In January 2017, smart beta equity ETFs/ETPs gathered net inflows of $10.69bn. Combining market moves and net inflows, smart beta equity ETF/ETP assets have increased by 26.7% from $421.58bn to $534.06bn in January, with a five-year CAGR of 30.6%. At the end of January 2017, there were 1,208 smart beta equity ETFs/ETPs, with 2,034 listings, assets of $534bn, from 150 providers listed on 37 exchanges in 32 countries. According to ETFGI, 89% of smart beta assets are invested in the 606 ETFs/ETPs that are domiciled and listed in the US and 78% of the assets are invested in the 477 ETFs/ETPs that provide smart beta exposure to the US. iShares gathered the largest smart beta ETF/ETP net inflows in January with $3.82bn, followed by PowerShares with $1.31bn and Vanguard with $1.28bn net inflows. Products tracking S&P Dow Jones smart beta indices gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in January with US$5.16bn, followed by MSCI with $1.14bn and CRSP with $1.09bn net inflows.