Franklin Templeton has extended its reach into Europe by cross-listing five smart beta ETFs on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
Franklin Templeton has expanded its ETF presence onto SIX Swiss exchange.
The ETFs, targeting global, US, or European equities, are part of the Franklin Liberty Shares range and consist of multi-factor and quality income strategies.
They are already available on the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Börse and Borsa Italiana.
Patrick Lutz, country head of Franklin Templeton Switzerland, commented, “The introduction of the Franklin LibertyQ Shares range to the Swiss market is a significant milestone for our business and we perceive it as an important extension of our offering in view of increasing investor demand for ETFs.
“We believe the addition of smart beta ETFs will complement our existing active management product ranges and will offer our clients additional investment solutions and vehicles in which to construct their investment portfolio. The new funds will be fully supported by our considerable existing operations, technology and trading capabilities from all across the globe.”
Danielle Reischuk, Senior ETFs & ETPs Sales Manager at SIX Swiss Exchange, added: “We warmly welcome Franklin Templeton as a new ETF issuer to our exchange. Their smart beta ETFs provide investors additional opportunities to diversify their portfolio with selected underlyings.”
The five ETFs are linked to Franklin LibertyQ indices, which are constructed using in-house proprietary models. The multi-factor indices selects stocks with the highest exposure to four factors (quality, value, momentum and low volatility), while the income-focused indices target exposure to securities with high and persistent dividend income along with superior quality characteristics.
Multi-factor ETFs
The Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity SRI UCITS ETF (FLXG SW) tracks the LibertyQ Global Equity SRI Index, which is based on the MSCI ACWI SRI universe of large and mid-cap stocks with strong sustainability profiles across developed and emerging market countries.
The index currently has 234 constituents. The US dominates the country weighting with 43.5%, followed by Japan (8.8%), UK (6.3%), Australia (6.0%) and Canada (5.8%), while the largest sector exposures are financials (16.7%), consumer discretionary (14.3%) and information technology (13.8%).
The ETF has a 0.40% total expense ratio (TER) and trades in USD.
The Franklin LibertyQ US Equity UCITS ETF (FLXU SW) tracks the LibertyQ US Large Cap Equity Index, which is based on the Russell 1000 universe of US large-cap stocks.
The index currently has 250 constituents. The largest sector exposures are industrials (20.0%), consumer services (18.5%) and consumer goods (17.3%).
The ETF has a 0.25% TER and trades in USD.
The Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets UCITS ETF (FLXE SW) tracks the LibertyQ Emerging Markets Index, which is based on the MSCI Emerging Markets universe of large and mid-cap stocks across 24 emerging market countries.
The index currently has 201 constituents. The largest country weightings are approximately evenly split between South Korea (14.7%), China (14.3%) and Taiwan (12.8%), while the largest sector exposures are information technology (19.7%), consumer discretionary (13.7%) and energy (13.6%).
The ETF has a 0.55% TER and trades in USD.
Quality dividend ETFs
The Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend UCITS ETF (FLXX SW) tracks the LibertyQ Global Dividend Index, which is based on the MSCI ACWI ex REITs universe of large- and mid-cap stocks across developed and emerging market countries.
The index currently has 100 constituents and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The largest country weightings are the US (37.4%), Australia (9.0%) and Canada (8.7%). The largest sector exposures are financials (24.0%), consumer staples (20.6%) and healthcare (13.4%).
The ETF has a 0.45% management fee and trades in USD.
The Franklin LibertyQ European Dividend UCITS ETF (FLXD SW) tracks the LibertyQ European Dividend Index, which is based on the MSCI Europe IMI universe of large-, mid- and small- cap stocks across developed market countries in Europe.
The index, consisting of 50 constituents, currently has a dividend yield of 5.24%. The UK accounts for over a third (34.2%) of the total index weight, followed by Germany (13.7%) and Sweden (12.1%). The financials sector also takes a third (34.0%) of the total exposure, followed by telecommunications (16.9%) and consumer discretionary (14.9%). The largest individual holding is Prosieben Media (3.5%).
The ETF has a 0.25% management fee and trades EUR.
Susquehanna is acting as a market maker and providing liquidity to the ETFs.