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

UBS Asset Management
UBS Asset Management (UBS AM) has expanded its exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering in Europe, with a new core range. UBS Core ETFs will provide clients with competitively priced building blocks for their investment portfolios, the firm said in a statement.

The equity range will cover key market indices, including the US, Europe, emerging markets and Japan. Fixed income ETFs will soon be added to the core range.

The funds are registered for sale in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, the UK, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden.

In parallel, UBS AM said it is developing a range of active ETFs built around its differentiated fixed income and thematic equities capabilities, which will be followed later by a series of income focused ETFs with option overlays.

Evelyn Partners
UK wealth manager Evelyn Partners has launched its Cash & Cautious Bond strategy into the financial advisor market. 

This discretionary portfolio management service invests in a flexible selection of liquid, high-quality and low-risk cash-adjacent securities and shorter-dated bonds aimed at beating the returns available on cash accounts, the firm said in a statement.  

Bespoke Cash & Cautious Bond portfolios, which were first made available to Evelyn Partners’ direct clients two years ago, offer greater diversification than many near-cash strategies and gilt ladder services on the market, incorporating not only cash deposits, money market instruments and gilts, but also bonds issued by selected global organisations with strong credit ratings.  

The portfolios can be tailored to individual clients’ timescales and drawdown needs, while also offering the potential for tax-efficient returns. The strategy is being made available to the advisor market at a competitively priced ongoing fee of 0.15 per cent annually covering both portfolio management and custody. The firm said that this "established and distinctive low-risk strategy" will help advisors support their clients' investments through a period of global uncertainty.

“Our Cash & Cautious Bond strategy has been a widely welcomed solution over the last couple of years for direct clients of Evelyn Partners looking for a home for substantial cash balances,” Matthew Spencer, head of intermediaries at Evelyn Partners, said. “Savings accounts are already seeing reduced returns and, with central banks expected to continue to cut benchmark rates, as we saw last week with the latest reduction by the Bank of England, this is set to continue. There’s a window of opportunity for financial advisors to lock in elevated short-term bond yields for their clients as part of a diversified and low-risk strategy.”  

“The Cash & Cautious Bond service can provide an element of tax-efficiency through the inclusion of bonds that are exempt from capital gains tax,” Spencer added.