Solactive AG has launched the Solactive SuperRegion Select Index, a new smart beta reference for high dividend firms with low price volatility listed in Asia, Europe and the US. The strategy selects 25 high yielding firms with low volatility from each region and weights them by inverse volatility, while assigning a 50% weighting to the region with the highest near-term historical performance. Astrid Ludwig, Head of Indexing, Solactive AG, commented: “The [index] can provide investors with the possibility of taking advantage of potential regional momentum, while seeking to avoid geographical concentration.”

Neil Woodford, one of the UK’s most famous active managers, underperformed mainstream equity indices in 2016, serving as a reminder that ETF investors could strike out on their own at much lower cost. His renowned £9.3bn Woodford Equity Income Fund generated just 3.3% in sterling terms last year, and costs 0.65% for institutional investors up to as much as 1.5% for retail investors. There are several rules-based UK equity income ETFs available as alternative options to the Woodford fund, from providers such as iShares, Source, WisdomTree, SPDR ETFs and PowerShares, all at a lower cost.

Invesco PowerShares has launched a new US Treasuries ETF designed to act as a solution for institutional clients who need to post collateral including that needed to meet margin requirements. The PowerShares Treasury Collateral Portfolio (NYSE: CLTL) tracks the performance of fixed and floating rate US Treasury securities with a remaining maturity between one month and one year. Dan Draper, Global Head of PowerShares by Invesco, commented: “Money market reform will have an impact on US investors going forward, [this] ETF will help ease certain challenges on deck for our clients.”

BMO Global Asset Management has expanded its ‘Income Leaders’ suite of ETFs with the launch of the BMO MSCI Emerging Markets Income Leaders UCITS ETF (LON: ZIEM), providing exposure to emerging market equities with quality characteristics and high dividend yields. By including a quality screen, the ETF seeks to reduce portfolio volatility and boost the sustainability of dividend payouts. Marc Knowles, Director of ETFs Europe, BMO Global Asset Management, commented: “Investments in quality companies with lower debt levels can help to deliver enhanced risk adjusted returns.”

ALPS Advisors, in collaboration with investment advisory firm Dorsey, Wright & Associates (DWA), has launched the ALPS Dorsey Wright Sector Momentum ETF (Nasdaq: SWIN), designed to capture the returns attributable to momentum investing at both the sector and stock level in the US market. The fund is not the first to harness the DWA relative strength methodology and will compete with ETFs from Invesco PowerShares and First Trust.

Invesco PowerShares has launched two new ETFs tracking international developed and US small-cap stocks while tilting their portfolios towards greater exposure to high dividend and low volatility characteristics, two proven long-term drivers of outperformance. Dan Draper, Global Head of PowerShares by Invesco, commented: “Combining high dividend and low volatility factors in our two newest ETFs may also provide investors with more defensive access to equity income in the face of uncertain markets.”

MSCI has reported strong net inflows of $17.5bn to ETFs linked to its factor indices between 1 January and 30 September 2016. With global factor-based ETFs attracting nearly $51bn in net inflows over this period, MSCI-linked ETFs have captured approximately one third of total net flows. Diana Tidd, MSCI’s Head of Index Products, commented: “Our innovative factor index offering, combined with the strength of our top quality brand, continue to make MSCI indices the first choice of ETF providers around the world.”

According to research from ETF provider Invesco PowerShares, smart beta as an investment strategy is rapidly growing in popularity among European investors – 71% of survey respondents believe smart beta strategies will become a widely accepted investment over the next few years, compared to 60% of investors who held the same conviction in 2015. Bryon Lake, Head of Invesco PowerShares EMEA, commented: “Smart beta is increasingly seen as a tool of choice among users in meeting investment objectives and is playing an increasing role in investment portfolios across Europe.”

Nasdaq Stock Market hosted 24 new exchange-traded product listings and one switch in the third quarter of 2016, representing 35% of new ETP listings and switches across all US exchanges. The listing and switching activity brings Nasdaq’s total ETP listings to 295. Jeff McCarthy, Vice President and Head of ETP Listings at Nasdaq, commented: “Nasdaq’s expanding portfolio of ETP listings reinforces our commitment to helping issuers list new products and grow.” Details of the fund launches during the quarter are listed below.

Nine new ETFs were launched on London Stock Exchange in September, bringing the number of ETF listings for the year to 100. Nine other ETPs have been listed on the exchange in 2016. iShares listed four global thematic ETFs, First Trust and ZyFin partnered to bring out Europe’s first physical Indian Equity ETF, PowerShares launched an ETF tracking US fallen angels, Source introduced a low volatility US equity ETF, Deutsche launched a USD Asia ex-Japan corporate bond ETF, and UBS rolled out a US corporate bond ETF with an interest rate hedge.