Canadian exchange-traded fund issuer First Asset Investment Management has launched the First Asset Preferred Share ETF (FPR) and First Asset Long Duration Fixed Income ETF (FLB) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. FPR’s portfolio will consist primarily of preferred shares of North American issuers but may also hold investment grade corporate debt and convertible bonds, while FLB shall form its portfolio primarily of longer dated developed markets, Canadian and US government issued fixed income securities. Total expense ratios of 0.65% and 0.30% apply respectively.

Global financial services firm Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) has launched a trust company in Hong Kong, providing trustee services to global asset managers looking to establish Hong Kong-domiciled investment products such as exchange-traded funds. The move follows the 2015 launch of China’s Mutual Recognition of Funds, a cross-border initiative that opens a new channel for mutual fund investment into and out of Mainland China. Gabriel Cheung, Head of BBH’s Hong Kong Trust Business, commented: “With a proven track record in leading cross-border fund jurisdictions, BBH’s expertise will enable our clients in all regions to take advantage of this exciting opportunity.”

Germany-based index provider Solactive AG and global thematic funds specialist Sarasin & Partners have unveiled a suite of five new indices targeting smart beta equity exposure in the UK, Europe, the US, and globally. The Sarasin’s Systematic Efficient Approach Indices, designed to provide core building blocks for asset allocators, seek to outperform the market-cap over the medium-long term and across multiple market cycles by tilting exposure to three proven drivers of return: momentum, low volatility and size. Steffen Scheuble, CEO, Solactive, commented in a statement: “Solactive is happy to announce our cooperation with Sarasin & Partners on the calculation of indices that not only aim to outperform country markets but also employ a sophisticated and proven methodology – a methodology that is passionate about obtaining a sustainable profit in the mid-long term.”

Global asset manager Columbia Threadneedle Investments has acquired New York-based investment adviser Emerging Global Advisors (EGA) as it builds out its smart beta investment business. The acquisition will significantly expand Colombia Threadneedle’s smart beta capabilities with the use of EGA’s skill as an emerging markets specialist and the firm’s suite of nine emerging markets equity ETFs that track custom-designed indices. Ted Truscott, CEO of Columbia Threadneedle Investments, commented in a statement: “The experience and knowledge of the EGA team and strong emerging markets ETF products will complement our existing actively managed product lineup. The EGA acquisition will allow us to reach even more investors and accelerates our efforts as we build our smart beta capabilities.”

According to BOOST ETP’s Boost Short & Leverage (S&L) ETFs/ETPs Global Flows Report for March 2016, assets under management (AUM) of S&L ETPs at the end of March reached a new record high of $71bn, up 4.9% since the start of the year. S&L ETPs are currently available covering all major assets classes and geographies. In terms of asset allocation, as of the end of March, equity ETPs account for $52.6bn (72%) of total AUM, followed by debt with $7.0bn (12%) and commodities with $6.8bn (9%).

Broadridge Financial Solutions has announced that China Post Global, the international asset management arm of the Chinese postal savings bank, has joined Broadridge’s integrated trading and portfolio management platform for its Market Access ETFs. Bennett Egeth, President of Broadridge Investment Management Solutions, commented: “Broadridge is very proud to be working with an innovative Asian provider like China Post Global to address this tremendous opportunity by providing efficient, scalable and future-proof portfolio management solutions.”

Smart beta exchange-traded fund assets will reach $1tn globally by 2020 and $2.4tn by 2025, according to a recent report by BlackRock’s iShares. With current smart beta ETF assets at $282bn (Bloomberg 31 March 2016), the provider’s projections reflect an annual organic growth rate of 19%, double the growth rate of the overall ETF market. Martin Small, BlackRock’s Head of US iShares, commented in a statement: “Smart beta ETFs are growing increasingly popular, as evidenced by their record flows in 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 with investors using them to manage risk and obtain precise exposure to historically return driving factors.”

Germany-based index provider Solactive, and BlueStar Global Investments, a research-focused firm specialising in the Israeli capital markets, have together launched BlueStar Israel Economic Exposure Indexes. The two indexes reflect the division in the Israeli economy between globally-orientated firms and companies primarily focused on serving the domestic economy. Both indexes have been designed to form the basis for future investment products such as exchange-traded funds. The Solactive-BlueStar Israel Domestic Exposure Index and Solactive-BlueStar Israel Global Exposure Index provide investors with two distinct benchmarks for Israeli equities. They may be used as indicators of Israel’s economic cycles and specific economic trends, as well as vehicles to track the potential risk of geopolitical events in the volatile Middle East.

JP Morgan Asset Management has launched a smart beta US mid cap equity exchange-traded fund on NYSE Arca, bringing its total smart beta diversified return equity ETF offering to eight. The JPMorgan Diversified Return US Mid Cap Equity ETF (JPME) targets the US mid cap equity market through a multi-factor investment process. The ETF attempts to address the flaws of traditional indexing by weighting constituents according to proven drivers of return such as value, quality and momentum. Robert Deutsch, Global Head of ETFs for JP Morgan Asset Management, said: “JPME helps to diversify risk more evenly across the portfolio, in an effort to reduce exposure to volatile sectors and securities.”

New York-based asset manager IndexIQ has launched the first exchange-traded funds to introduce a momentum investing approach to fixed income markets. The IQ Enhanced Core Bond US ETF (AGGE) and IQ Enhanced Core Plus Bond US ETF (AGGP) have begun trading on the NYSE Arca. The ETFs adopt a ‘fund of funds’ structure, investing in fixed income sector ETFs that are displaying the strongest positive total return momentum. AGGE invests in sectors across the US investment grade fixed income market. AGGP employs the same investment approach, with the added ability to include exposure to US high yield debt and US dollar denominated debt of emerging market issuers.