VanEck Australia has launched a medley of new equity ETFs on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Strategic beta ETPs, on average, underperformed their respective cap-weighted benchmarks during the first five months of 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic roiled markets. According to Morningstar’s Strategic Beta Landscape report, the lackluster showing is, in many instances, directly linked to the ETPs’ underlying factor tilts.

VanEck has introduced a new ‘Wide Moat’ strategy to Europe with the launch of the VanEck Vectors Morningstar Global Wide Moat UCITS ETF on the London Stock Exchange and Xetra. The fund provides exposure to a global portfolio of companies with sustainable competitive advantages (or wide economic moats) that are attractively priced according to index provider Morningstar’s estimate of fair value. Martijn Rozemuller, Head of Europe at VanEck, commented, “With its smart beta strategy, our new Global Wide Moat ETF offers an attractive alternative to the global equity benchmark, the MSCI World.”

By Karen Schenone, Head of US iShares Fixed Income Strategy, BlackRock.

Looking to generate income from your nest egg? Make sure you don’t get it all from just one basket.

JP Morgan Asset Management has added to its ‘BetaBuilders’ suite of low-cost, passively managed ETFs with the launch of the JPMorgan BetaBuilders US Mid Cap Equity ETF (BBMC US) on NYSE Arca. The fund is linked to the Morningstar US Mid Cap Target Market Exposure Extended Index and provides investors with liquid, cost-effective access to mid-cap equities trading in the US. It comes with an expense ratio of 0.07%.

Financial services giant BNY Mellon has introduced a trio of ultra-low-cost ETFs, with five more launches planned for the coming weeks. The NYC-headquartered firm is well established in the ETF space as a custodian and administrator but this is the first time it has rolled out its own ETFs. Mitchell Harris, CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management, said, “We are putting the entire firm to work for our clients to offer high-quality products at a very competitive fee level.”

Assets under management in ETFs (and ETPs) listed in Europe have surpassed $1 trillion as of the end of December 2019, according to data from ETF research firm ETFGI. Total AUM rose 4.6% during the month, from $982.1 billion to $1.027trn, driven by a combination of strong net inflows and healthy market performance. Fixed income ETFs attracted the lion’s share of flows in 2019 with $61.1bn, followed by equity ETFs with $51.7bn and commodity ETFs with $8.7bn.

JP Morgan Asset Management has added to its ‘BetaBuilders’ suite of low-cost, passively managed ETFs with the launch of the JPMorgan BetaBuilders International Equity ETF (BBIN US). The fund, which has listed on Cboe BZX and comes with a fee of 0.07%, provides investors with liquid, cost-effective access to developed market equities globally, excluding the US and Canada. Joanna Gallegos, US Head of ETFs at JPMAM, said, “BBIN gives investors broad, diversified access to the developed international equity market, at a fraction of the price of purchasing across individual markets.”

Morningstar has ventured into the ETF issuance business via its Australian investment management concern with the launch of the Morningstar International Shares Active ETF (MSTR AU) on the Australian Securities Exchange. The ETF, which is actively managed and currency-hedged, comes with a management fee of 0.39% and aims to achieve meaningful capital growth over the medium to long term while minimizing the risk of permanent capital loss.

VanEck has completed the integration of Think ETFs into its product portfolio. Effective immediately, the 14 funds acquired in January 2018 through the purchase of Dutch issuer Think ETFs have been renamed under the VanEck Vectors brand. Martijn Rozemuller, European Head of VanEck, commented, “We are delighted to reinforce the VanEck brand in the UK and Europe…Our long-term objective is to be one of the top ten providers of ETFs in Europe.”