The assets under management of First Trust Global Portfolios’ (FTGP) European-listed ETF suite has grown to over $600m since the firm debuted its first ETF in the European market in 2011. Derek Fulton, CEO at FTGP said, “We have been hugely encouraged by the increasing interest in our trusted innovative investment solutions and believe this significant growth underlines the value of our proven investment strategies.”

Copia Capital Management, the discretionary fund manager of Novia Group, has launched its “Select Plus” range of managed portfolios, aimed at the UK adviser market. The suite of five portfolios are constructed using a blend of ETFs, as well as funds by Dimensional Fund Advisors, and provide access to risk premia associated with certain factor exposures. According to Hoshang Daroga, quantitative investment manager at Copia, the systematic factor-based approach can help advisers diversify portfolios and potentially enhance returns.

JP Morgan has announced plans to launch a trio of bond ETFs in Europe. The ETFs will provide exposure to ultra-short government and corporate bonds, short-duration European government bonds, and a smart beta play on EM sovereign bonds. Bryon Lake, international head of ETFs at JP Morgan Asset Management, said: “We’re focused on launching products which will serve specific investor needs. Sophisticated investors, across Europe, are saying they want to see innovation in the fixed income arena whether that be our beta builder, smart beta and/or active capabilities.”

By Nicola Mai, portfolio manager, sovereign credit analyst at PIMCO.
While things look good over the cyclical horizon, investors shouldn’t be complacent about the long-term outlook, as the region is still far from resolving its existential challenges.

Vanguard has cross-listed the Vanguard Euro Stoxx 50 UCITS ETF (VX5E SW) on SIX Swiss Exchange, offering another access point for investors seeking exposure to mega-cap blue-chip stocks in the eurozone. The ETF, which is based on the widely followed Euro Stoxx 50 index, is already available on the London Stock Exchange and on Deutsche Börse.

Ten new ETFs and 27 ETPs were listed on London Stock Exchange in December 2017, making it exchange’s busiest month of the year for new listings. On-exchange ETF/ETP trading, however, was down for the month and broadly flat for the year.

European-listed ETFs enjoyed a record-breaking increase in assets of $230 billion during 2017 to reach $802bn at year-end, according to data from ETFGI. The increase of 40%, from $573bn at the end of 2016, is the most significant growth in European ETF assets since 2009 when markets recovered following the 2008 financial crisis. Commenting, Hector McNeil, co-CEO of HANetf, said: “ETFs are a success story that no asset manager can afford to ignore and I predict double-digit asset growth in ETFs is the new normal.”

Mutual funds will become legacy products within 15 years, with ETF assets in Europe set to treble within the next decade, according to Hector McNeil, chief executive of new white-label ETF provider HANetf.

In a review of 2017, Hamish Preston, senior associate, index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices states that “risk was the dog that didn’t bite this year”.

Tradeweb has reported that European equity ETFs saw strong net selling activity on its European-listed ETF marketplace during November with ‘sells’ outstripping ‘buys’ by fourteen percentage points.