Beyond Investing has launched the US Vegan Climate Index, an equity index that screens US large-cap stocks for veganism and environmental criteria. Claire Smith, CEO, Beyond Investing, said “We anticipate demand for financial products based on this index to serve the requirements of vegans and environmentalists who do not want their money supporting businesses whose activities they oppose.”

Solactive is to expand its benchmark offering by launching the Global Benchmark Series, one of the largest projects undertaken by the German index provider. When completed, the series will include around 2,000 equity indices, covering 23 developed and 25 emerging markets. Steffen Scheuble, CEO of Solactive, commented: “Thanks to the GBS, customers will not only experience a wider range of choices in the benchmark space but will also have access to more price-competitive solutions compared to what is currently available in the market.”

Invesco has launched the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Index ETF (EQL CN) on Toronto Stock Exchange. The fund becomes Canada’s first ETF to provide equally weighted exposure to the companies that make up the S&P 500.

Active Alts has closed its actively managed Active Alts Contrarian ETF (SQZZ US). The fund ceased trading on Nasdaq and was closed to purchase by investors on 25 May 2018.

Solactive has partnered with Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) to launch the Solactive L&G Gender in Leadership UK Index. The index provides exposure to UK large-, mid- and small-cap equities from firms that score well in terms of gender diversity in the workplace. Timo Pfeiffer, head of research at Solactive, commented, “As an all cap index, the Solactive L&G Gender in Leadership UK Index can be used to track the performance of gender diversity among UK-listed companies and gain more exposure to those with better scores.”

ETFs deliver the versatility that European institutional investors want in the current fast-changing global market environment, according to a recent study by Greenwich Associates. “After multiple years of regular use, European institutions have found ETFs to be simple, versatile and cost-effective tools, and they are ramping up their investments at a rapid clip,” says Greenwich Associates managing director, Andrew McCollum.

WisdomTree has launched the WisdomTree AT1 CoCo Bond UCITS ETF (CCBO LN) on London Stock Exchange, providing exposure to contingent convertible (CoCo) bonds issued by financial institutions from developed European countries. Rafi Aviav, WisdomTree head of product development in Europe, said, “This is a major development for investors globally who can now, for the first time, gain diversified exposure in a UCITS structure to the AT1 CoCo market with the ease and efficiency of trading an ETF.”

While the volatility and inefficiencies of the Chinese equity market – inherent in most emerging market countries – lends itself to opportunities for active investment management, ETF provider Vanguard highlights that picking winners can be difficult over the long term. Instead, the asset management giant proposes that a low-cost and highly diversified indexing strategy is a good approach in any market, including China.

The proportion of passive funds within the global sustainable funds universe has increased from less than 6% five years ago to approximately 12% today, according to a report by investment research house Morningstar. The study notes this rise has been driven by the general trend towards passive investing and the development of more sophisticated indices on the back of better ESG data.

HSBC Global Asset Management has cross-listed two of its actively managed ETFs – the HSBC Multi-Factor Worldwide Equity UCITS ETF (H41J GR) and HSBC Economic Scale Worldwide Equity UCITS ETF (H41I GR) – onto Xetra and Börse Frankfurt.