German index provider Solactive has launched a new family of smart beta indices targeting returns attributable to the value factor. The Solactive Deep Value Index series comprises four indices focused on specific geographic regions.

ETFs have been found to be the most popular investment vehicle amongst US financial advisors, according to a survey by the Financial Planning Association, with 88% of respondents currently using or recommending ETFs with their clients. It also indicated that 50% of advisers plan to increase their use or recommendation of ETFs with clients over the next 12 months.

A majority of Canadian investment professionals (64%) are concerned that liquidity could be negatively impacted by the growing use of exchange-traded funds, according to the results of a survey administered by independent broker and financial technology provider ITG.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the owner of NYSE, has agreed to acquire the index business of Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML). The acquisition, which includes more than 5,000 indices, significantly enhances the firm’s fixed income indexing capabilities at time when bond ETFs are experiencing exponential growth.

By Bryon Lake, international head of ETFs, JP Morgan Asset Management.

Various industry sources have suggested that European ETFs could double in the next five years – and then double again in the subsequent five years. We’re talking about the potential for the global ETF industry to go from its current size of around $3 trillion to over $6 trillion in five years, and then $12 trillion in another five years. If those estimates sound naively optimistic, consider that in the last 20 years in aggregate, ETF assets have at least doubled in literally every single rolling five year period.

Index provider IHS Markit has launched the Emirates NBD Markit iBoxx USD Sukuk Index, in collaboration with Middle East banking group Emirates NBD. The index, which has been designed so as to be suitable to underlie ETFs, aims to provide a transparent benchmark for investors in USD sukuk.

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has agreed to acquire The Yield Book and Citi Fixed Income Indices from Citigroup for $685 million in cash. The acquisition represents a significant opportunity for LSEG to enhance its fixed income data and analytics capabilities and strengthen its FTSE Russell index franchise, bringing an increase in benchmark AUM of around $2 trillion. The deal substantially bolsters FTSE Russell’s footprint and product offering in the fixed income space – one of the fastest-growing segments of the ETF industry – and follows the acquisition of the Russell Indexes business in 2014.

A task force on exchange traded funds (ETFs) for Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has released a set of key recommendations aimed at attracting greater investor participation and incentivising ETF issuers in the Malaysian market.

The Investment Company Institute (ICI), an association of US investment companies, has released research showing that average US-listed ETF fees have been on a downward trend in recent years. The report also shows that as a proportion of all US assets invested, the market share of assets in ETFs has grown from 3.3% in 2005 to 27.2% at the end of 2016.

Vanguard, the world’s largest mutual fund manager and second-largest largest ETF provider, has launched a wholly-owned subsidiary in China called Vanguard Investment Management (Shanghai) Limited. Structured as a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE), the new entity will enable Vanguard to bring its investment philosophy to Chinese investors. Vanguard has $4.2 trillion in assets under management, with some $715 billion invested in US-listed ETF assets as of 23 May 2017.