Exo Investing, a London-based digital wealth manager, has officially opened its doors to business, offering private investors access to sophisticated artificial-intelligence-powered ETF portfolios for a low online fee. Lennart Asshoff, CEO of Exo Investing, said, “Exo is all about democratising access to sophisticated investment technology, using the latest advances in AI and risk management technology to break down the barriers to wealth and open the door to a new category of investing for as many people as possible.”

London-based Progeny Asset Management has launched the Optimised Passive Income 60/40 portfolio, a globally diversified multi-asset portfolio solution built exclusively using iShares ETFs. Ian Hooper, director of Progeny Asset Management, said the portfolio “offers a straightforward growth and yield solution that investors can tuck away for the long term.”

By Hector McNeil, co-CEO and founder of HANetf.

MiFID II, the package of comprehensive Europe-wide rules designed to strengthen protection for investors and improve transparency, was formerly enacted at the beginning of 2018, in a move which should accelerate adoption of ETFs in Europe – a market that already grew by over 40% last year.

Bulgarian investment manager Expat Asset Management has introduced six new ETFs on Deutsche Börse’s Xetra and Frankfurt exchanges, offering investors exposure to the main stock indices of Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Hungary and Slovakia.

Zurich-based index provider Stoxx is to launch the iStoxx RiskFirst LDI Index family, providing a range of benchmarks for liability-driven investment (LDI) portfolios. Stoxx, which is a leading provider of indices to the ETF industry, has partnered with UK-based RiskFirst to develop the family.

Euronext has completed its takeover of the Irish Stock Exchange, having acquired 100% of the shares and voting rights and receiving regulatory approval. Stéphane Boujnah, CEO and chairman of Euronext, said: “Euronext is uniquely positioned to welcome independent exchanges such as the Irish Stock Exchange, now Euronext Dublin.”

Lyxor has launched a new range of ‘Core’ ETFs with total expense ratios starting from just 4 basis points. The range is composed of 16 ETFs covering the major equity markets as well as gilts and TIPS on the fixed income side. Four new ETFs have been launched to complement 12 existing, re-badged ETFs whose fees have been cut. Arnaud Llinas, head of ETFs and indexing at Lyxor, said, “Investors tell us they want simple, high quality ETFs at low costs. We’ve launched our Core range to achieve precisely that.”

Active equity managers in Europe have taken a beating in the past decade, overwhelmingly failing to outperform their benchmark indices over the last ten years, according to the latest S&P Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) Scorecard. The results support the ongoing argument that passive funds, such as index-tracking ETFs, pack a better punch than their actively managed counterparts.

Inflation in the UK fell more than expected during February, according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), providing some relief for hard-pressed consumers. Representatives from ETF issuers offered their take on what the results mean for UK monetary policy.

Nineteen ETFs or share classes debuted on London Stock Exchange in February, bringing the total number of new ETF (inc share classes) listings on the exchange this year to 26. Listings included new ETFs from ITI, JP Morgan, and Deutsche, plus new share classes from BlackRock and SSGA.