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

Schroders
In line with a number of investment managers, Schroders has launched two new active exchange traded funds (ETFs), expanding the geographic solutions in its growing suite of products to meet client demand.

The Schroder Europe Equity Active UCITS ETF and Schroder Japan Equity Active UCITS ETF will provide investors with access to actively managed regional equity strategies aimed at identifying companies with attractive value and quality characteristics in Europe and Japan respectively.

The launches build on the expansion of Schroders’ active ETF offering. The Europe and Japan Equity ETFs share an underlying investment philosophy and process with existing Schroders’ Equity ETFs. The ETFs will be listed on the XETRA Deutsche Borse today, followed by further listings on the London Stock Exchange, Borsa Italiana and SIX Swiss Exchange.

“The launch of our Europe and Japan Equity Active UCITS ETFs marks another important step in the expansion of our active ETF platform, that we continue to grow to meet strong client demand,” Tom Stephens, head of ETFs at Schroders, said. “These ETFs will provide clients with greater choice in how they access Schroders’ active investment expertise by broadening our highly-diversified regional equity offering. They also offer solutions with limited index relative risk, alongside the potential for incremental alpha generation across market environments.”

The Schroder Europe Equity Active UCITS ETF is benchmarked against the MSCI Europe (Net TR) Index and the Schroder Japan Equity Active UCITS ETF against the MSCI Japan (Net TR) Index

A number of investment managers, including US-headquartered investment managers Franklin Templeton and Invesco, have also been boosting their range of ETFs recently.

Utmost
Utmost, a global provider of insurance-based wealth solutions, has launched Utmost Wealth Portugal, creating a new distribution company in the country. The new distribution company will be headed up by Pedro Paixão, director of Utmost Wealth Portugal.

The expansion forms part of Utmost’s international growth strategy following the 2024 acquisition of Lombard International, now known as Utmost Luxembourg. The Portuguese distribution company will be equipped to distribute solutions from Utmost’s Ireland and Luxembourg entities, providing jurisdictional choice and enhanced access to Utmost’s product suite.

Utmost Wealth Portugal represents a step forward in Utmost’s European growth strategy, underscoring its commitment to the Portuguese financial planning and insurance-based wealth solutions market. It will enable Utmost to deepen its relationships and build new business opportunities with partners including private banks, family offices and asset managers as well as financial advisors and brokers active in the private wealth sector.

Seraphim Space
Seraphim Space, a specialist SpaceTech investor, has launched the Seraphim New Space UCITS ETF, providing investors with focused exposure to publicly listed companies at the forefront of the new space economy.

At the heart of the ETF is the Seraphim New Space Index. The index identifies and weights companies across the new space ecosystem, spanning launch and access, satellite manufacturing, satellite connectivity, Earth observation and the emerging in-space economy.

The ETF, which tracks the Seraphim New Space Index, has been launched in partnership with HANetf, Europe’s independent white-label UCITS ETF and ETC platform. HANetf brings experience of launching and managing specialist and thematic exchange-traded products across European markets.

The New Space ETF will be operated by HANetf, an independent provider, while Seraphim will pick the companies that are included in the vehicle. The ETF will list on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker SPCE for UK investors and under SERA on Xetra and Borsa Italiana for European investors.