Franklin Templeton Investments Canada has introduced a suite of plain-vanilla passive ETFs on Toronto Stock Exchange, providing single-country and regional exposures at low management fees. The ETFs are linked to indices from FTSE Russell that target equities in Canada, United States, Japan, and Europe (excluding the UK). “With market-moving events like trade tensions and Brexit, investors and their advisors, as well as institutional investors, are looking to precisely act upon specific country and regional market views,” said Duane Green, President and CEO, Franklin Templeton Investments Canada.

By Chetan Sehgal, Portfolio Manager at Franklin Templeton Investments.

Investor sentiment in emerging markets continued to improve in January, supported by a dovish Fed and hopes for the United States and China to reach a trade deal by March when higher US tariffs on Chinese goods are poised to set in.

As 2018 draws to a close, David Mann, Head of Capital Markets, Global ETFs at Franklin Templeton Investments, looks back on some of the industry trends he had predicted would likely unfold this year. How many came to fruition? And which missed the mark?

By Jason Xavier, Head of EMEA ETF Capital Markets at Franklin Templeton Investments,

In this connected world of 24-hour news and social media, many factors continue to vie for the market’s attention, keeping volatility at the forefront of many investors’ minds. In this blog post, I explain how volatility can present tactical investment opportunities, but not for those who are stuck following the crowd.

Franklin Templeton Investments has added three new emerging markets funds – tracking Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Latin America – to its line-up of passively managed single country and regional ETFs in the US.

Franklin Templeton has expanded its suite of ETFs in Europe with the launch of the Franklin LibertyQ AC Asia Ex Japan UCITS ETF. The fund has been listed on Deutsche Börse with cross listings planned for the LSE, Borsa Italiana and SIX Swiss Exchange. Caroline Baron, Head of ETF Sales EMEA at Franklin Templeton, said, “We are pleased to announce the expansion of our smart beta ETF range—this time with a new transparent, rule-based multi-factor Asian ETF, built on our active insights in the market and offered at a competitive fee of 40bps.”

Franklin Templeton has added the Franklin LibertyQ European Equity UCITS ETF to its line-up of European listed ETFs. The new ETF provides equity exposure to developed market European companies selected and weighted using a multi-factor smart beta approach. Caroline Baron, Head of ETF Sales EMEA at Franklin Templeton, commented: “We continue to build momentum and develop our suite of LibertyQ funds for the European market. For our line-up of multi-factor strategies, we target high quality companies that are attractively valued using momentum to identify investment trends and avoid value traps. We also use low volatility to help provide a defensive measure against downturns.”

JP Morgan has unveiled two more equity ETFs as part of its ‘BetaBuilders’ range of funds – low cost, passively managed ETFs marketed as portfolio building blocks. The new additions provide broad exposure to the equity markets of Canada and developed Asia Pacific excluding Japan.

By Jason Xavier, head of EMEA ETF capital markets at Franklin Templeton Investments.

Opportunities to invest nimbly in fixed income securities have traditionally been limited for all but large, sophisticated investors. The emergence of fixed income ETFs has changed that and brought some much-longed-for democracy to the fixed income arena.

Seven issuers were active on London Stock Exchange in June, listing seventeen new ETFs or ETF share classes, bringing the total number of new listings (including ETPs) to 188 year-to-date. Lida Eslami, Head of London ETP Business Development, London Stock Exchange, commented: “We continue to see growing demand for ETPs both in terms of issuance and volumes traded in the first half of the year.”