Online investment manager Nutmeg has become the first provider to launch fractional shares in exchange traded funds. The move will allow Nutmeg to buy and sell as little as one pence in any ETF as opposed to whole shares, which can be costly. By offering fractional shares it means that client money can be invested more precisely. Shaun Port, chief investment officer at Nutmeg, said: “With fractional shares we can now allocate with even greater precision. This gives us an incredibly powerful tool to buy into a wide range of ETFs and to fully invest even small contributions, and re-invest dividends.”

John Hancock Investments, a Boston-based asset manager who launched its first raft of exchange-traded funds in September last year, has expanded its product line-up with five new sector multifactor ETFs. The new additions build upon the firm’s existing partnership with Dimensional Fund Advisors, a smart beta pioneer. The two began their collaboration in 2006, offering strategies as both individual John Hancock mutual funds and through John Hancock asset allocation portfolios. Andrew G. Arnott, president and CEO of John Hancock Investments, said: “Investors are increasingly looking for a better way to achieve equity market beta than relying solely on traditional capitalization-weighted indices.”

A new exchange-traded fund offering smart beta exposure to emerging market companies has launched on Nasdaq exchange. The Victory CEMP Emerging Market Volatility Wtd Index ETF (CEZ), screens stocks across factors such as size (large cap) and fundamentals (profitability) and weights eligible constituents according to their historical volatility. Stephen Hammers, Chief Investment Officer for Victory’s CEMP franchise, commented: “We are very excited to expand our existing ETF line-up to include a fund that may offer a risk conscious and tax efficient solution for investors seeking to diversify their portfolios through exposure to emerging markets.”

Deutsche Asset Management in partnership with Harvest Global Investments has launched a new exchange-traded fund – the db x-trackers Harvest FTSE China A-H 50 Index UCITS ETF (DR) – designed to track the performance of the 50 largest China A-share companies while capturing any price differentials between dual-listed constituents’ A-Shares and H-shares. Dual-listed mainland China companies’ shares often trade at different prices despite identical voting rights and dividend payments. According to data from Deutsche Asset Management, as of 31 January 2016, H-Shares on dual-listed stocks were trading at an average 27% discount to their A-Share equivalent. The fund is linked to the newly launched FTSE China A-H 50 index and has been listed on the LSE and Deutsche Börse.

FTSE Russell has unveiled an innovative new index: the FTSE China A-H 50 Index. The index, which has been licensed to Deutsche Bank for an ETF launch, has the same constituents at the company level as FTSE China A50 A-share index but, where applicable, is able to switch into a constituent’s Hong Kong-listed H-Shares if they offer better value. Mark Makepeace, CEO of FTSE Russell, said: “As the Chinese domestic market opens, we continue to develop products that provide investors with a variety of tools to capture different aspects of the market. The FTSE China A-H 50 Index reflects our desire to create new index solutions for the region, as we look to support the diverse range of investment needs.”

Over 30% of institutional investors who do not currently use smart beta expect to adopt such strategies within two years, according to a recent survey conducted by Source, a European provider of exchange-traded funds. Dividend-weighted strategies are predicted to be a major driver of this growth with 28% of respondents believing investors will increasingly focus on smart beta strategies to enhance the dividends they receive. Dr Chris Mellor, Executive Director, Equity Product Management at Source, commented: “Smart beta is going to play a growing role in helping investors find quality stocks that pay an attractive dividend.”

Smart beta strategies are effective at isolating and capturing risk premia, according to Scientific Beta, a commercial venture of EDHEC Risk Institute. The firm’s latest research paper, “Smart Beta is not Monkey Business”, confirms that investors are able to use smart beta investment products, such as certain exchange-traded funds, to achieve specific factor exposures. The paper refuted claims that all smart beta strategies gain exposure to the size factor and that any out-performance is solely attributable to this exposure, and that similar results may be obtained by a random, so-called “monkey” weighting strategy.

Japan-listed exchange-traded funds and exchange traded products gathered $2.48bn in net new assets last month, bringing total inflows for the first two months of the year to a record $9.24bn, according to data from London-based consultancy ETFGI. Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered $2.51bn in February, the largest net inflows from any asset class, followed by commodity ETFs/ETPs with $108m, and fixed income ETFs/ETPs at $5m. Nomura AM was the most successful gatherer of new assets during February with $1.47bn, followed by Nikko AM with $693m and Daiwa with $391m net inflows.

Germany based index provider Solactive has launched a new index offering access to the performance of companies that are mainly owned by families. The Solactive Global Family Owned Companies Index specifically looks at the positive effects of certain ownership structures on the long-term development of a company. The index is based on global research by the University of St. Gallen, which lists the 500 biggest companies by revenue, where families hold at least 32% of the voting rights. Out of this universe all listed companies at a regulated and approved stock exchange are further considered as components for the index. Steffen Scheuble, CEO, Solactive, said that investors can now participate in the positive influence of family.

Taipei-headquartered Fubon Asset Management has listed three exchange-traded funds linked to the Nifty 50 index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE). The launch marks the first time Taiwan-based investors have been able to access the popular Indian equity index via ETF format. The Fubon NIFTY ETF (00652), Fubon NIFTY 2x Leveraged index ETF (00653L), and the Fubon NIFTY -1 Inverse ETF (00654R) track the Nifty 50 Index, the Nifty PR 2X Leverage Index and the Nifty PR 1X Inverse Index, respectively.