Guggenheim Investments has halved the management fee charged on its $13bn S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (NYSE Arca: RSP), from 0.40% to 0.20% in a bid to position itself as one of the lowest cost providers of smart beta ETF strategies. Douglas Mangini, head of intermediary distribution at Guggenheim, commented: “This significant fee reduction is designed to benefit existing shareholders and acknowledge the increasing use of RSP by institutional and individual investors as a core equity holding.”

WisdomTree has launched the WisdomTree US Multifactor Fund (Bats: USMF), a smart beta fund which tracks an index created in-house and gives investors exposure to large and mid-cap US equities selected using a multi-factor methodology. Luciano Siracusano, chief investment strategist at WisdomTree, commented: “We believe USMF is a simple, intuitive solution for investors seeking to incorporate the potential of factor investing into their US equity allocation.”

Oppenheimer Funds has filed a request with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list four new smart beta multifactor ETFs. The new ETFs will focus on US large caps, US small caps, developed world ex-US equities and emerging market equities, and each will dynamically adjust its exposure to the various factors based on the current stage of the economic cycle.

Texas-based investment adviser US Global Investors has launched the US Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (NYSE Arca: GOAU), tracking the performance of companies engaged in the production of precious metals either actively (through mining or production) or passively (through owning royalties and production streams).

Lyxor has launched two new multi-factor smart beta ETFs, providing exposure to US and UK equities, that give investors exposure to the quality, low volatility and high dividend factors. Each fund has a total expense ratio of 0.19%, pricing the funds as some of the lowest cost income-based ETF strategies available in Europe. Adam Laird, head of ETF strategy, Northern Europe, Lyxor, commented: “Particularly in this environment of low yields, the lower charges on ETFs mean more of the dividend goes to the investor.”

IndexIQ has launched five new ETFs that employ an environmental, sustainable and governance (ESG) filter to screen potential securities and then a smart beta multi-factor methodology to weight the selected constituents. The suite includes three equity and two bond (sovereign and corporate) ETFs listed on the Euronext Paris Exchange.

Copia Capital Management, the discretionary fund manager of Novia group, has announced that its ETF-based smart beta portfolios have outperformed the median IA flexible sector return by an average 8.4% in their first year. Hoshang Daroga, quantitative investment manager at Copia, said: “The strong performance of these new portfolios can be mainly attributed to outperformance from the underlying smart beta ETFs as well as the tactical asset allocation performed using the Copia Quant Model and the Dorsey Wright investment strategy.”

Harvest Portfolios Group has announced it has changed the name of the US Buyback Leaders ETF (HUL) to the US Equity Plus Income ETF, which took effect on the Toronto Stock Exchange as of 22 June 2017. Michael Kovacs, CEO at Harvest, commented: “To specifically title the fund on the corporate share repurchase programs that are part of the investment criteria was narrow and didn’t give enough credit to the overall stock portfolio choices being made and the overall quality of the portfolio.”

Ohio-based asset manager Victory Capital has launched the VictoryShares US Multi-Factor Minimum Volatility ETF (Nasdaq: VSMV), giving exposure to US equities while tilting the portfolio towards a series of factors that historically have provided superior risk-adjusted returns.

First Trust has launched a series of new ETFs on NASDAQ. Six of the new funds are smart beta equity strategies and one invests in California municipal debt.