Fidelity International has launched two income-focused smart beta ETFs on the London Stock Exchange, becoming the latest asset manager to enter the European ETF space.

Affluent investors between the ages of 35 and 51 represent approximately 40% of users on digital wealth manager platforms, up from 31% over the past year, according to a US-focused Cogent Reports study released by Market Strategies International. The findings suggest that Generation X investors are increasingly becoming the key demographic to future growth in automated investment advice firms, colloquially known as robo-advisors, which are significant users of ETFs in their portfolios.

Following net inflows of $1.1bn during the month of November, assets under management for actively managed ETFs/ETPs listed globally reached a new record high of $42.0bn. Record levels of assets were also reached at the end of November for active ETFs/ETPs listed in the United States at $28.7bn, Canada at $5.6bn, and in Asia Pacific ex-Japan at $1.9bn.

Leading global asset manager Fidelity Investments has announced that it has lowered the fees on its range of US sector exchange-traded funds. The suite of ETFs will see their total expense ratios drop from 0.12% to 0.084%, effective from 1st July. Colby Penzone, senior vice president for Fidelity’s Investment Product Group, commented in a statement: “We are taking already one of the lowest cost index fund offerings in the industry and making it even more compelling. While cost matters, investors should also consider the overall experience and value a financial services firm can deliver when deciding where to invest.”

Fidelity FundsNetwork, a UK-based investment platform, has added 16 new exchange-traded products to its offering, bringing the total number of ETPs available to 77. The products are available to advisory firms in various wrappers via Fidelity’s integrated online platform.

European exchange traded fund provider Source has announced that Fidelity FundsNetwork (FFN) will list its PIMCO Sterling Short Maturity Source UCITS ETF (QUID LN) on its online investment platform. The fund, which as of 11 January 2016 had over £120m in assets under management, is the first actively managed ETF to be listed by FFN.

Financial advisers are increasingly outsourcing the management of their client’s investments to discretionary fund managers and this, in turn, is driving the demand for exchange-traded funds. Improving access and providing a greater variety of ETFs on UK fund platforms is imperative to foster this demand. Robin Beer, National Intermediary manager at Brewin Dolphin, commented: “ETFs play a key role in delivering value to our clients. Providing advisers with risk appropriate portfolios for their clients relies on broad investment access and choice to make sure our market views are expressed in the most efficient way. We would like to see a broader group of platforms integrate ETFs into their platform offering alongside other tools to provide greater choice.”

As the April 2016 deadline approaches for the cessation of trailing commissions, UK investment advisory firms have made significant steps forward in moving their clients to clearly stated fees, according to research from Fidelity’s UK investment platform, FundsNetwork. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) put an end to trailing commissions on new business April 2014. The two-year grace period on legacy business comes to an end as of April 2016 and ushers in a new era of investment management which emphasises fee transparency and should favour low-cost investment vehicles such as ETFs.

Fidelity Investments, a leading global asset manager, has announced that its 10 passively managed US equity sector exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have surpassed $1 billion in assets under management. A significant portion of the asset growth has occurred in the past three months with individuals and advisors investing more than $500 million in the ETFs. In addition, six of the 10 ETFs have each accumulated more than $100 million in assets, including the largest, the Fidelity MSCI Health Care Index ETF (FHLC), at $172 million.

Fidelity Investments, a leading global asset management firm with $1.9 trillion in managed assets, has made a significant and long-awaited play in the exchange-traded funds space with the launch of 10 passively managed US sector ETFs on the NYSE. With total expense ratios of just 0.12 percent, the new ETFs become the industry’s lowest-cost US sector ETFs, undercutting current segment price leaders SSgA SPDR and Vanguard. They are linked to MSCI sub-indices and offer exposure to the 10 equity sectors that make up the MSCI USA IMI.