Invesco has introduced a new fixed income ETF in Europe with the launch of the Invesco GBP Corporate Bond ESG UCITS ETF (IGBE LN) on London Stock Exchange. The fund, which has been seeded with £25m and comes with an ongoing charge of 0.10%, combines Bloomberg’s fixed income indexing capabilities with MSCI’s ESG research to provide ethically screened exposure to sterling-denominated corporate bonds.

By the ETF research team at Invesco.

With the Brexit leaving date quickly approaching, how is your portfolio positioned? If you are considering gaining exposure to UK equities, do you want to focus on the largest companies (FTSE 100) that generate earnings from all around the world or medium-sized companies (FTSE 250) that generate more of their earnings from domestic markets? Whatever your view, a passive ETF can offer efficient, low-cost exposure to the index.   

By the quantitative research team at STOXX.

The global financial crisis significantly changed the industry composition of European equities, enhancing sector diversification relative to the market’s own history and to other major regions.

VanEck has completed the integration of Think ETFs into its product portfolio. Effective immediately, the 14 funds acquired in January 2018 through the purchase of Dutch issuer Think ETFs have been renamed under the VanEck Vectors brand. Martijn Rozemuller, European Head of VanEck, commented, “We are delighted to reinforce the VanEck brand in the UK and Europe…Our long-term objective is to be one of the top ten providers of ETFs in Europe.”

By Jean-Maurice Ladure, Executive Director, Head of Equity Solutions Research, EMEA at MSCI.

European stock markets are very diverse: Some are large, some are small, but they all have unique histories and characteristics. In this blog post, we examine the pros and cons of investing in European stocks on a regional basis or by individual country via hypothetical index-based strategies.

Solactive has launched a new European equity index that provides exposure to dividend-paying stocks with low market risk and strong environmental, social, and governance (ESG) characteristics. The Solactive ARC ESG Big Data Europe Index is available for licensing and is suitable to underlie new investment products such as ETFs.

By Alejandro Saltiel, Associate Director of Modern Alpha, and Brian Manby, Investment Strategy Analyst, WisdomTree.

International equity markets have made headlines this year for all the wrong reasons. But just because lackluster performance and looming uncertainty have become the status quo in developed markets doesn’t mean investors need to acquiesce and hold on for the ride.

Over-the-counter trading venue Tradeweb has partnered with equities clearing house EuroCCP to facilitate central counterparty clearing for ETFs traded on its European request-for-quote platform. Commenting on the initiative, Enrico Bruni, Head of Europe and Asia Business at Tradeweb, said, “By offering our clients the ability to centrally clear European ETF trades, we are enhancing the RFQ workflow by introducing a new post-trade process to help investors minimize settlement fails and improve efficiency.”

By Christopher Dhanraj, Head of iShares Investment Strategy, BlackRock.

With the dollar maintaining its strength versus other currencies, the question of whether to hedge that currency effect remains an important one for US investors considering international exposures.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has come out in support of ETFs amidst a debate as to whether ETFs, particularly fixed income products, could exacerbate financial instability during periods of market stress. In an investigation the FCA found that while ETF primary markets are highly concentrated, particularly so for fixed income ETFs, evidence suggests that alternative liquidity providers step in during times of market stress, easing concerns about the durability and resilience of liquidity.