Tilney Bestinvest has announced the launch of its new Advanced Passive Portfolio fund range for UK financial advisers and their clients. The APP funds will combine an active approach to asset allocation invested through smart beta passive investments and low cost trackers. The suite of five risk-rated multi asset UCITS OEIC funds are launched with a fixed price offer period on each fund of 100p per share from 1 February to 15 February. The risk rated funds include a high proportion of exchange traded products; Cautious 59%, Balanced 57%, Growth 60%, Aggressive Growth 62% and Income 60%.

Reality Shares, a specialist index provider and exchange-traded fund issuer, has announced the launch of two new ETFs on the BATS Exchange. The Reality Shares DIVCON Dividend Defender ETF (DFND) and the Reality Shares DIVCON Dividend Guard ETF (GARD) both leverage the firm’s DIVCON dividend health rating methodology to provide tactical long or short exposure to companies based on their perceived likelihood of increasing or decreasing their dividend levels.

Asset manager Invesco has expanded its services into the robo-advisor space with the acquisition of Jemstep, a digital platform specialising in providing online tailored investment advice to financial advisors. Investors using Jemstep will complete a personal questionnaire regarding their investment goals, risk tolerance and time frame. The robo-advisor will then use an algorithm to form portfolios based on each client’s specific requirements.

BMO Wealth Management, the fund management division of the Canadian-headquartered bank, has expanded its suite of investment services available to Canadian Investors with the launch of SmartFolio. The service requires a minimum investment of CAD 5,000 and uses a questionnaire to determine the user’s investment goals and risk tolerance. The investor is then assigned to one of five ETF-based portfolios most closely suiting their objectives.

iShares, the world’s largest exchange-traded fund provider, has increased its range of country-specific ETFs domiciled in Europe with the launch of the iShares TA-25 Israel UCITS ETF (TASE LN). The ETF will track the TA-25 index, which offers exposure to the top 25 largest firms listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) while using a single holding cap of 10% to prevent over-concentration in any single company. It is rebalanced twice a year.

Exchange traded fund provider iShares has unveiled a new ETF tracking an index of short-term, euro-denominated corporate bonds. The iShares Euro Corporate Bond Sustainability Screened 0-3yr UCITS ETF (SUSE) tracks the Barclays MSCI Euro Corporate 0-3 year Sustainability ex-Controversial Weapons Index, and marks iShares’ first venture into the issuance of sustainable bond ETFs.

Saxo Bank, a Copenhagen-based investment bank, has teamed up with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, to provide a large-scale, online portfolio management service for retail investors. The move will combine the bank’s online portfolio management tool, SaxoSelect and BlackRock’s range of iShares exchange-traded funds as the building blocks for portfolio construction.

S&P Dow Jones, a leading global index provider, has announced the launch of the S&P Long-Term Value Creation (LTVC) Global Index, an index designed to track the performance of companies meeting high standards of financial quality and value creation with a focus on long-term objectives. “Over the past few years, there has been an intensifying investor demand for a benchmark that captures companies that take a long-term approach in making business decisions,” said Alex Matturri, CEO of S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The launch of the S&P LTVC Global Index is a manifestation of the long-termism concept with an independent and transparent approach.”

Lombard Odier Investment Managers, a smart beta investment manager, and ETF Securities, an exchange-traded fund provider, have announced the introduction of a GBP currency-hedged share class for their fundamentally-weighted global corporate bond ETF. Howie Li, Co-Head of CANVAS, ETF Securities, commented: “With increased currency volatility in 2015 that’s likely to continue this year, portfolio managers have become keenly aware of the impact of foreign exchange movements in their portfolios. This latest development in our range of smart beta fixed income ETFs is in response to the investment community’s need to manage their currency risk.”

Reality Shares, a US-based provider of smart beta dividend strategies, has launched the Reality Shares DIVCON Leaders Dividend ETF (BATS: LEAD) on the BATS Exchange. Linked to the Reality Shares DIVCON Leaders Dividend Index, the ETF seeks to identify large-cap US companies which, according to the proprietary DIVCON rating system, have the highest probability of increasing their dividends within a year. “We believe that dividends are a strong indication of companies’ economic health, but all dividend-paying companies are not created equal,” said Eric Ervin, CEO of Reality Shares. “Companies that increase their dividends have historically outperformed those with flat or declining dividends, or no dividend at all.”