Iowa-headquartered insurance company Transamerica has launched three new investment options that have underlying portfolios invested in iShares smart beta exchange-traded funds. The TA BlackRock Equity Smart Beta 100, TA BlackRock Smart Beta 75, and TA BlackRock Smart Beta 50 are now available in Transamerica’s variable annuities investment line-ups. Transamerica will be the investment manager of the underlying investment options, but all three variable annuity investment options will be sub-advised by BlackRock, the asset manager behind the iShares range of ETFs. “We are excited to be offering these variable annuity investment options emphasising smart beta ETFs as underlying holdings,” said Tom Wald, Transamerica Asset Management’s CIO.

A new exchange-traded fund offering smart beta exposure to emerging market companies has launched on Nasdaq exchange. The Victory CEMP Emerging Market Volatility Wtd Index ETF (CEZ), screens stocks across factors such as size (large cap) and fundamentals (profitability) and weights eligible constituents according to their historical volatility. Stephen Hammers, Chief Investment Officer for Victory’s CEMP franchise, commented: “We are very excited to expand our existing ETF line-up to include a fund that may offer a risk conscious and tax efficient solution for investors seeking to diversify their portfolios through exposure to emerging markets.”

Smart beta strategies are effective at isolating and capturing risk premia, according to Scientific Beta, a commercial venture of EDHEC Risk Institute. The firm’s latest research paper, “Smart Beta is not Monkey Business”, confirms that investors are able to use smart beta investment products, such as certain exchange-traded funds, to achieve specific factor exposures. The paper refuted claims that all smart beta strategies gain exposure to the size factor and that any out-performance is solely attributable to this exposure, and that similar results may be obtained by a random, so-called “monkey” weighting strategy.

More than 85% of active equity funds in Europe underperformed their benchmark over the last ten years, according to the Year End 2015 Europe S&P Indices Versus Active Funds (SPIVA) Scorecard. The results support the ongoing argument that passive funds, such as ETFs, offer better value and performance than their actively managed counterparts. The SPIVA scorecard, which is considered the de facto scorekeeper of the ongoing active versus passive debate, includes a breakdown of the performance of actively managed funds in a wide number of specific European countries, against their relevant S&P benchmarks.

German asset manager StarCapital has launched a new multi-factor investment strategy aiming to provide market-beating returns. The STARS Multi-Faktor Fund works by capturing varying factor premiums at different stages of the economic cycle. It selects investments from around 100 eligible ETFs, each designed to isolate the performance of a specific smart beta factor. Eligible ETFs provide access to global and regional equities, and include a wide range of smart beta factor exposures such as dividends, buybacks, value, growth, quality, size, minimum volatility and momentum. Markus Kaiser, Fund Manager at Star Capital, explains that challenges lie in allocating the right factors at the right time.

Invesco PowerShares, a leading provider of exchange-traded funds, has launched the PowerShares DWA Tactical Multi-Asset Income Portfolio (Nasdaq: DWIN). The Nasdaq-listed ETF harnesses proprietary methodology from Dorsey, Wright & Associates (DWA) which uses technical analysis to allocate to the strongest price-performers amongst a range of equity, bond and alternative income strategies. The ETF adopts a “fund of funds” structure, meaning that it invests its assets in other ETFs rather than in securities of individual companies. ETFs are selected based on a combination of relative strength indicators and current yield. (Picture, Tom Dorsey, founder of DWA).

PureFunds, a US-based provider of thematic exchange-traded funds, has unveiled the world’s first dedicated video game technology ETF. Listed on the NYSE Arca, the PureFunds Video Game Tech ETF (GAMR) offers pure-play exposure to this increasingly important tech and entertainment sector. The ETF is linked to the EE Fund Video Game Tech Index, which tracks 36 global companies across the video gaming industry. Companies appearing in the index include video game developers, publishers and distributors, platform providers, accessories and peripherals manufacturers, and large tech and media conglomerates whose business models actively support the video gaming and interactive simulation segments.

Thematic exchange-traded fund provider PureFunds has launched the PureFunds Drone Economy Strategy ETF (NYSE Arca: IFLY), the world’s first ETF to provide pure-play exposure to companies designing, manufacturing and researching drones and drone technology. “Like other established investment sectors, technology has been driven by the growth of its various industries,” said Andrew Chanin, CEO of PureFunds. “Investors of all backgrounds have sought the opportunity to diversify their broad technology exposure with a thematic approach, and the PureFunds Drone Economy Strategy ETF offers added flexibility for investing in technology.”

Canadian investment manager First Asset has launched five new exchange-traded funds on the Toronto Stock Exchange, expanding its offering of First Asset Corporate Class funds. The new ETFs offer low cost, transparency, active management, diversification in a range of asset classes combined with a tax deferred structure to deliver an investment advantage for Canadians. There are no immediate tax consequences triggered when switching between ETFs within the corporate class and investors may also benefit from more tax-efficient distributions provided through the corporate class structure.

Eaton Vance Corp has launched its long awaited exchange-traded mutual fund, the Eaton Vance Stock NextShares (Nasdaq: EVSTC), on Nasdaq. It is the first of eighteen anticipated NextShares funds expected to be launched. The fund is the first of its kind and is classed as a hybrid between an actively managed fund and an ETF. It will follow a research-driven core investment strategy, primarily holding a diversified portfolio of common stock to seek long-term capital appreciation. The initial fund launch has been made available to individual investors, financial advisors and institutions through leading online broker-dealers Folio Investing and Folio Institutional.