The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relevant to wealth advisors and their clients.

Amundi, Euronext
Amundi, a Paris-based European asset manager, and Euronext, a European capital market infrastructure, have partnered to launch an Amundi European Strategic Autonomy UCITS exchange-traded fund (ETF). The ETF offers investors an opportunity to finance a portfolio of European companies that play a role in strengthening Europe’s autonomy, the firm said in a statement.

It will invest in companies across 10 key themes essential to European sovereignty and resilience – energy, power grid and equipment, infrastructure, logistics, food security, pharma and chemicals, software, semiconductors, financials, and aerospace and defence. It replicates the Euronext European Strategic Autonomy index, which selects firms with revenue exposure to these themes and applies equal weighting across them to ensure diversified and balanced exposure, the firm continued.

The ETF will be listed in the coming weeks on Euronext Paris, and launched with a minimum subscription of €5 ($5.8) making it accessible to a wide audience of investors. It will be eligible for the French PEA scheme reflecting its strong European focus.

Financing Europe’s strategic autonomy is a priority supported by numerous European and national public initiatives, but it also requires a significant increase in private investment, the firm continued. This new ETF uses the expertise of two European financial institutions committed to channeling significant savings into strengthening the continent’s economic sovereignty. The launch complements Amundi’s range of European equity ETFs which represent over €65 billion of assets under management.

“In a world marked by persistent geopolitical risks and more regionalisation, we are glad to create, together with another recognised European financial player, a new efficient solution to invest in companies that are essential to build a resilient and autonomous Europe,” Benoit Sorel, global head of ETF and indexing at Amundi, said. 

“We welcome Amundi’s launch of this ETF that replicates the Euronext European Strategic Autonomy Index, and will channel capital to support the companies most critical to Europe’s strategic autonomy,” Aurélien Narminio, head of indices, ETFs and securitised derivatives at Euronext, added.

A number of wealth managers have been launching ETFs recently, for instance US-headquartered investment managers Invesco and Franklin Templeton. See here.

WisdomTree, Stratiphy
WisdomTree, a European provider of exchange-traded products (ETPs), has partnered with wealth management platform [/tag|Stratiphy">Stratiphy to offer investors access to new asset classes, including commodity ETPs and thematic ETFs. 

Stratiphy users will be able to access a range of WisdomTree’s commodity ETPs, such as gold, silver, oil and gas, as well as thematic exposures including AI, cloud computing, quantum computing, renewable energy, and strategic metals and rare earths miners. 

By unlocking access to these assets, Stratiphy investors will also be able to add them to their existing automated strategies to diversify their investment portfolios and benefit from exposure to assets such as gold, which has recently hit record highs and has risen 52 per cent over the past 12 months, outperforming many other assets.  

WisdomTree, which has over $135 billion in assets under management, has over 20 years' experience managing physical gold exchanged-traded commodities (ETCs), including creating Europe’s first physically-backed gold ETC.  

There is a growing demand amongst investors to personalise their strategies and diversify their portfolios to seek high performance and low volatility, the firm said in a statement. Stratiphy’s research revealed that 77 per cent of UK investors want more control over their investments amidst volatile global markets – whilst the same proportion say that being able to personalise their investment strategy is essential. 

“We believe investors benefit from greater choice and flexibility. The availability of our commodity ETPs and thematic ETFs through Stratiphy provides individual investors with new ways to diversify and stay aligned with their long-term goals, whether that means building for growth or resilience,” Don Corea, director, digital distribution, sales at WisdomTree said.

The firm also recently launched the WisdomTree Physical Stellar Lumens ETP (XLMW), designed to provide investors with a simple, secure and cost-efficient way to gain exposure to Lumens, the native token of the Stellar blockchain. See here.

BlackRock
BlackRock has launched the BGF Global Securitised Fund, designed to provide investors with diversified exposure to global, investment grade (IG) securitised assets.

The fund will invest across a universe of securitised assets, including Residential Mortgage Securities (RMBS), Asset-Backed Securities (ABS), Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs) and Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS). It will invest globally in key securitised markets including the US, Europe, the UK and Australia.

This approach aims to reduce reliance on any single securitised sector or region, while offering low correlation to traditional fixed income. This flexibility enables the fund to access attractive risk-adjusted returns across the global IG securitised market, with a focus on high quality resilient income for investors.

The fund uses BlackRock’s team of 40 securitised specialists based in London, New York and Sydney. It is co-managed by Kate Galustian, Samir Lakhani, Ibrahim Incoglu, and Daanish Siddiqui, who have an average of 20 years securitised industry experience.

"Securitised assets can offer attractive yields and low sensitivity to changes in interest rates compared to corporate bonds, which is ideal for those seeking diversification away from well-held fixed income asset classes,” Kate Galustian, head of the EMEA & Australia securitised assets team at BlackRock and co-portfolio manager, said. “This launch reflects our commitment to advancing fixed income investing through innovative, actively managed solutions to meet investors’ evolving needs.”

“We are delighted to work with BlackRock to help design and launch this fund. An allocation to securitised assets can enable clients to access an attractive yield pick-up compared to corporate credit, as well as offering additional portfolio diversification,” Chris Helyar, investment partner at Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP), added. BlackRock’s global securitised platform manages $158 billion+, as part of its $1.2 trillion global fixed income platform. 

Vanguard
US investment manager Vanguard has launched three new fixed income exchange-traded funds (ETF): Vanguard US Treasury 1-3 Year Bond UCITS ETF; Vanguard US Treasury 3-7 Year Bond UCITS ETF; and Vanguard US Treasury 7-10 Year Bond UCITS ETF.

The new funds, which complement the existing Vanguard US Treasury 0-1 Year Bond UCITS ETF and the Vanguard USD Treasury Bond UCITS ETF, enable investors to manage duration across the curve. The ETFs will be listed on the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Börse and Euronext Amsterdam – bringing the number of fixed income funds launched by Vanguard in Europe to 10 this year.

“These new ETFs will allow investors to fine tune their exposure to the US Treasury curve with more precision, enabling them to align their allocation to their investment goals in a low-cost, high-quality format,” Mark Fitzgerald, head of product specialism at Vanguard Europe, said. “Our goal is to help clients create enduring portfolios that can provide value to investors by delivering real positive returns, through tracking Bloomberg benchmarks and investing in US Treasury bonds.”

The new ETFs will be managed by Vanguard’s fixed income group which manages more than $2.6 trillion in assets across the globe and now offers 46 fixed income index products in Europe.