JP Morgan bolsters Equity Premium Income ETF suite in Europe

Nov 6th, 2024 | By | Category: Alternatives / Multi-Asset

JP Morgan Asset Management has introduced new ‘Equity Premium Income’ UCITS strategies to Europe, expanding access to two of its most popular actively managed US-listed ETFs.

Travis Spence, Global Head of ETFs at JP Morgan Asset Management

Travis Spence, Global Head of ETFs at JP Morgan Asset Management.

Listed on London Stock Exchange, the new funds are the JPMorgan US Equity Premium Income Active UCITS ETF (JEPI LN) and JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income Active UCITS ETF (JEPQ LN).

The US-listed counterparts of these ETFs have seen strong investor demand in recent years. The US-domiciled JEPI, launched in May 2020, has become the world’s largest active ETF, amassing $36.6 billion in assets. Meanwhile, the US-domiciled JEPQ, launched in May 2022, has rapidly grown to $17.6 billion, making it one of the fastest-growing active ETFs globally.

In Europe, JEPI and JEPQ complement the JPMorgan Global Equity Premium Income Active UCITS ETF (JEPG LN), which launched in December 2023.

JP Morgan’s Equity Premium Income ETFs aim to deliver a combination of reduced-volatility equity market exposure and consistent monthly income, achieved by combining active equity portfolios with index options, thereby striking a balance across yield, capital growth, and risk.

JEPI and JEPG leverage fundamental bottom-up research insights to build higher-quality, lower-beta underlying equity portfolios relative to their respective benchmarks – the  &P 500 and MSCI World.

JEPQ, meanwhile, utilizes a data science process, drawing on over 40 years of JP Morgan proprietary data, to construct a fundamentally driven Nasdaq 100 portfolio.

Each ETF then applies an options overlay by selling index options every week against the long-only equity portfolios of JEPI, JEPQ, and JEPG, using the premiums to generate income. The premiums received from selling these call options are paid out monthly, in addition to the dividends received from the underlying equities held in each ETF.

JEPI targets an annualized yield of 7–9%, while JEPQ aims slightly higher at 9–11%, reflecting the greater inherent volatility of the Nasdaq 100 compared to the S&P 500.

JEPI, JEPQ, and JEPG each has an expense ratio of 0.35%.

Travis Spence, Global Head of ETFs at JP Morgan Asset Management, commented: “We’re thrilled to be expanding our Equity Premium Income range in UCITS with the launch of JEPI and JEPQ. These innovative and market-leading strategies, which have seen strong demand in the US, offer investors a compelling solution for achieving their income and total return objectives with reduced volatility. During the past five years, we have worked closely with investors to build stronger portfolios with an Equity Premium Income strategy, and we are excited to share this experience and unique solutions to our clients that require the UCITS vehicle.”

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