Tradeweb has reported that the end of September marked the third busiest quarter for its European-listed ETF marketplace since its launch in October 2012. Adriano Pace, managing director for equity derivatives at Tradeweb, said the performance reflects the efficiencies of ‘Request For Quote’ (RFQ) trading as the ETF industry is bracing itself for the new regulatory landscape under MiFID II.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has released its monthly ETF roundup for September 2017. Total on-exchange value traded for ETFs during the month was £28.2 billion through 289k trades, up 18% compared to September 2016.

VanEck has introduced the VanEck Vectors NDR CMG Long/Flat Allocation ETF (NYSE Arca: LFEQ). Launched in collaboration with Ned Davis Research (NDR), the fund provides exposure to US large-cap equities through a guided allocation approach designed to help investors participate in bull markets and minimise losses in bear markets.

Aviva has announced it is to buy a majority shareholding in robo-advisor Wealthify. The digital investment platform was launched in April 2016 and uses algorithms to invest customers money in passive products including iShares ETFs from BlackRock. Richard Theo, co-founder and CEO of Wealthify said Aviva’s investment “reflects a clear shift in market demand for high-quality, technology-enabled financial services solutions like Wealthify”.

By Nizam Hamid, ETF strategist at WisdomTree in Europe.

Investors often ask how our individual Funds can form part of a diversified portfolio, or how to combine our Funds to gain diversified exposure to certain styles or regions. With this in mind we have constructed a diversified global model portfolio focusing on equities.

Gold ETFs were in strong demand during September with gold-backed ETFs increasing their holdings of physical gold by 22.4 tonnes globally, according to data from the World Gold Council. However, significant differences in regional appetites for the precious metal were noted.

MSCI, one of the leading providers of equity indices to the ETF industry, reports that all of its factor-based indices generated a positive return in September with the best-performing factor for the month being momentum (2.6%) and the worst, minimum volatility USD (0.1%).

Lion Global Investors and Phillip Capital Management, two Singapore-based asset managers, have teamed up to launch the first ETF to focus entirely on Singapore real estate investment trusts (REITs). The Lion-Phillip S-REIT ETF will trade on the Singapore Exchange and will track the Morningstar Singapore REIT Yield Focus Index.

Invesco PowerShares has launched the first ETF in Europe to offer targeted exposure to preferred shares. The PowerShares Preferred Shares UCITS ETF (PRFD) is linked to the BofA Merrill Lynch Diversified Core Plus Fixed Rate Preferred Securities Index and has been listed on the London Stock Exchange. Nicolas Samaran, head of innovative product development at Invesco PowerShares, said: “With interest rates and bond yields at all-time lows, investors have really struggled to generate meaningful income. Preferred shares provide yields comparable to high-yield bonds, but from securities issued typically by more well-known companies.”

Index provider FTSE Russell has announced the results of its annual review of country classifications. The standout change is the reclassification of Poland from emerging market to developed economy, becoming the first country from Eastern Europe to attain the status. The implementation of Poland’s revised market status will commence from September 2018 and will affect ETFs such as the €1.3 billion Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe UCITS ETF (LON: VEUR).