Shares of the BullMark LatAm Select Leaders ETF (BMLA) are to be delisted from the NASDAQ due to the fund’s non-compliance with the minimum shareholder requirement. The ETF is issued by Horizons ETF Trust and tracks an index provided by BullMark Financial Group, an asset manager and advisory firm based in Brazil.

Franklin Templeton has adopted Euroclear’s international security structure for its European line-up of ETFs. Launched in 2013, Euroclear’s international structure for ETFs aims to bring increased efficiency to a process that had previously only been supported by fragmented domestic market practices across Europe.

UBS has listed three share classes of the UBS MSCI USA Select Factor Mix ETF on Switzerland’s SIX Exchange, providing currency-hedged multifactor exposure to US equities. The three share classes offer investors the choice of currency hedging between the US dollar and sterling, euros, or swiss francs.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has launched the Goldman Sachs Access High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca: GHYB), offering smart beta exposure to US dollar-denominated high yield corporate bond markets.

Strategic beta ETFs (also widely known as smart beta ETFs) may not be as distinctive as advertised – market capitalisation weighted ETFs may be able to capture some of the performance drivers of strategic beta alternatives at a lower cost, finds Morningstar.

By Nicolas Rabener, Founder, FactorResearch.

FTSE Russell’s 2017 Smart Beta Investor Survey showed that the Number 1 objective for evaluating smart beta strategies was for risk reduction, followed by return enhancement. Naturally there are many types of smart beta strategies available to investors today, however, they are nearly all long-only products. If equity markets crash, then smart beta products will also crash and would not substantially reduce portfolio risks.

PIMCO has launched three smart beta equity ETFs providing investors with diversified exposure to US, international, and emerging market stocks. The funds target multiple factors including value, quality, low volatility, momentum and size which research shows have historically outperformed the broader equity market over the long term.

Turner Investments has announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with Elkhorn Funds’ Board of Trustees to acquire Illinois-based ETF provider Elkhorn Capital. The acquisition, which is not conditioned on shareholder approval, is expected to close in the next few weeks.

First Asset Investment Management has launched the First Asset MSCI International Low Risk Weighted ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange, providing exposure to a portfolio of low volatility equities from developed international countries.

Shares of subprime lender Provident Financial, a favourite of star fund manager Neil Woodford, have dived nearly 70% following a profit warning, the resignation of its CEO and the cancellation of its dividend. While the stock is held in many well-known equity income funds, including strategies from Invesco Perpetual’s Mark Barnett plus actively managed funds from Jupiter, Rathbones, M&G and Aberdeen, it is notably absent from the BMO MSCI UK Income Leaders UCITS ETF (ZILK) and SPDR S&P UK Dividend Aristocrats UCITS ETF (UKDV) – two smart beta ETFs that deploy rules-based screens to achieve dividend sustainability.