Vanguard’s initial five ETFs have been admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The listing formally marks Vanguard’s debut in the UK ETF market. The five funds are the Vanguard FTSE 100 ETF (VUKE), the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VUSA), the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VFEM), the Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF (VWRL), and the Vanguard UK Government Bond ETF (VGOV).

ProShares, a US-based provider of alternative ETFs, has announced the launch of ProShares USD Covered Bond ETF (COBO). This new ETF is the only corporate bond fund – mutual fund or ETF – in the US with substantially all of its assets rated AAA. COBO invests in covered bonds, a type of collateralised corporate debt typically issued by non-US financial institutions. Covered bonds are a popular investment outside the US but previously have not broadly accessible in the US.

Richard Bernstein Advisors (RBA), a US-based investment adviser founded by Richard Bernstein, a former chief investment strategist at Merrill Lynch, has announced the launch of a series of ETF model strategies known as “SMRT” (Sector Model RoTation). The portfolios will combine RBA’s top-down approach and proprietary earnings and valuation analyses with First Trust Advisors’ AlphaDEX methodology.

S&P Indices has announced the launch of the dividend-focused S&P BRIC High Yield Index as well as a risk control version of the Index. The S&P BRIC High Yield Index provides exposure to 40 high dividend yielding companies from Brazil, Russia, India, and China (together known as the BRIC countries), while meeting stability, tradability, diversification and dividend sustainability requirements.

DB X-trackers, the ETF platform of Deutsche Bank, has rolled out four new ETFs aimed at professional investors who want daily double-leveraged (2x) long or short exposure to US and UK sovereign debt. The four ETFs, which have been listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), have been designed to enable investors to implement daily double-long or double-short positions in UK Gilts and US Treasuries for the purposes of short-term tactical trading or hedging.

Huatai-PineBridge, a joint venture between asset manager PineBridge Investments and broker Huatai Securities, has listed its Mainland China equities ETF, the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF, on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, raising $5.3bn in the process. The fund represents the largest ETF IPO in the Mainland Chinese capital market since 2006 and is expected to be the second largest equity fund in the A-share (local) market. It also becomes the largest ETF debut globally of the year so far.

Accuvest Global Advisors, a US investment manager, has announced plans to launch a new model strategy that will combine Accuvest’s top-down country-selection process with First Trust’s AlphaDEX ETF range. Each First Trust AlphaDEX ETF tracks the performance of a custom enhanced index following a rules-based fundamental stock-selection methodology. The goal of each index is to identify those stocks from within a traditional broad-based index which exhibit the fundamental characteristics that enable them to provide the greatest potential for capital appreciation.

Facebook’s stock market debut on Friday was more of a sputter than a splash. The company, which many thought would fly out of the blocks LinkedIn style, just about held its IPO price. Despite this, the social-networking giant’s reach is huge (over 900m users) and many investors are backing it to achieve great things. Facebook will eventually gain inclusion into a number of ETFs. We profile those, such as the Global X Social Media ETF (SOCL) and the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index ETF (FDN), that are likely to hold it as a significant weight.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Bank Index, which tracks the performance of Europe’s largest listed banks, closed the week down 8.7% as European banks were hammered jointly by investors, credit rating agencies and depositors. Conversely, specialist short ETFs that track this index inversely, such as the DB X-trackers Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Short Daily ETF and the Lyxor ETF Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Daily Short, rallied strongly and look set to continue to outperform as the spectre of a Greek eurozone exit looms.

ETF use is on the rise in Australia, according to a survey carried out by BetaShares, a leading Australian ETF provider. The survey showed that diversification and low cost were the main reasons driving investment in ETFs, though liquidity and access also polled well. Drew Corbett, Head of Investment Strategy at BetaShares, said: “It’s not surprising investors are finding multiple reasons to use ETFs, ranging from accessing investments and liquidity as well as the core benefits of diversification and low cost.”