iShares has revealed that UK financial advisers continued to increase their use of ETFs on wrap platforms in Q1 2013, with the amount of iShares’ assets held on major platforms reaching £985m, an increase of 16% on Q4 2012. Pollyanna Harper, Head of Intermediary Sales UK at iShares, said: “In the three months since the implementation of the RDR, we’re encouraged to see a steady increase in the amount of assets advisers are holding in ETFs through platforms. Advisers and investors are becoming more aware of what ETFs are and the benefits they can offer”.

WisdomTree has expanded its product line-up with the launch of the WisdomTree US Dividend Growth ETF (DGRW). The fund has been listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market and provides exposure to dividend-paying stocks with growth characteristics. In keeping with the firm’s fundamental indexing approach, the fund will track the proprietary WisdomTree US Dividend Growth Index, a dividend-weighted index which blends characteristics of both active and passive investment styles.

Vanguard has expanded its European suite of low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with the launch of four new funds on the London Stock Exchange. The new ETFs complement the firm’s existing London-listed line-up, which debuted in May 2012. Axel Lomholt, Vanguard’s Head of International Product Development, said: “In the US, Vanguard has been very successful in this area, gathering nearly $290 billion of assets since its first ETF launch in 2001. We think that the same low-cost, straightforward approach will prove equally popular in Europe”.

With China’s domestic exchange-traded funds industry growing at breakneck speed and its Mainland equity market steadily opening up to foreign investors, innovation surrounding Chinese indices has been a major theme so far this year. European index provider Stoxx, which earlier this year launched the market-capitalisation-weighted Stoxx China A 50 Index, has continued this theme with the introduction of the Stoxx China A 50 Equal Weight Index.

Cambria Investment Management has added to its exchange-traded fund line-up with the launch of the actively managed Cambria Shareholder Yield ETF (SYLD). The fund, which has been listed on the NYSE Arca, is composed of US stocks that have historically ranked among the highest in paying cash dividends, engaging in share buybacks and paying down debt – three factors collectively known as “shareholder yield.”

So far this year low-volatility exchange-traded funds have been among the industry’s best selling products, pulling in some $6.5 billion in net new assets in the first quarter. In keeping with this theme, S&P Dow Jones has continued the build out of its low-volatility index family with the launch of the S&P Korea Low Volatility Index. The new index seeks to measure the performance of the 50 least volatile stocks in the S&P Korea BMI.

By David Stevenson – Despite all the grim news surrounding gold, I find myself looking afresh at gold mining equity funds and wondering whether now is the time to start quietly increasing my exposure. In essence, investors face two equally dismal choices. Do they focus on investing with an active fund manager who will “know” which miners to back or do they invest in a passive ETF? The second equally lethal choice is whether they should back larger lower-cost miners or junior miners where the rewards could be huge?

FTSE Group, a London-based global index provider, has revealed that assets under management in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Series have surpassed $10 billion. The index series is one of the most widely followed gauges of property and real estate investment trust (REIT) performance and has been adopted by numerous ETF sponsors, including iShares, Lyxor, Deutsche Bank and First Trust.

Global short and leveraged exchange-traded product (ETP) assets rose by $4.4bn in the first four months of 2013, to $48.5bn, according to data released by Boost ETP. The growth in assets is a reflection, in part, of the increased breadth and depth of products available, improved education and understanding, and a general move by investors towards more transparent, exchange-traded products.

Source, a London-based provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has announced the launch of the Source Morningstar US Energy Infrastructure MLP UCITS ETF on the London Stock Exchange. The ETF is linked to the Morningstar MLP Composite Index and is the first in Europe to offer dedicated exposure to US energy infrastructure Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), which are booming as a result of the development of unconventional energy sources such as shale gas, tight oil and tar sands.