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

St. James's Place
This week, St. James's Place launched a new fund-of-funds range named Polaris; is aimed at clients who want to grow their wealth over five years or more.
 
The Polaris range, available to SJP clients in November, features four highly diversified fund-of-funds solutions, backed by research, the UK wealth manager said in a statement.
 
Asset allocation decisions will be centrally managed by the SJP investment team and overseen by the Investment Committee, the firm added. 

State Street Global Advisors will monitor the Polaris range daily, with responsibilities including continuous rebalancing of the underlying funds, cash flow management and currency hedging.
 
Each of the Polaris fund-of-funds is differentiated by its equity exposure:
 
Polaris 1 – the lowest risk solution for clients. It will invest around 40 per cent in equities, making it an appropriate choice for investors who prefer a relatively low level of volatility.
 
Polaris 2 – a more balanced solution, investing around 60 per cent in equities. It will have the second-lowest level of volatility.
 
Polaris 3 – will invest around 80 per cent of its assets in equities and is optimised for investors who can tolerate a relatively high degree of volatility.
 
Polaris 4 – designed to appeal to long-term investors who are seeking higher returns and are also willing to accept a high level of volatility. It will invest around 100 per cent in equities and therefore is the highest risk solution.
 
The Polaris range will sit alongside SJP’s three InRetirement funds (Prudence, Balance and Growth), which are designed to cater for a range of client goals in decumulation, from prioritising a steady income to maximising the value of an inheritance, the wealth manager continued.
 
Robin Ellis, head of portfolio strategies at St. James’s Place, said: “The Polaris and InRetirement ranges provide investment solutions for clients across a range of different objectives, from building wealth and maximising the value of savings, through to drawing down on those savings in retirement.” 

Franklin Templeton
In October, Franklin Templeton celebrated the fifth anniversary of its UCITS ETF range and presented its latest addition, the metaverse ETF for European investors.

The Franklin Metaverse UCITS ETF 3 tracks the Solactive Global Metaverse Innovation Net Total Return Index comprising global equity securities issued by companies that have, or are expected to have, significant exposure to the metaverse and supporting blockchain technologies, the asset manager said in a statement. 

Companies that are not deemed to align with the UN Global Compact Principles are excluded from the index.

This new ETF is listed on the Deutsche Börse Xetra, the Borsa Italiana and London Stock Exchange. It will be registered in the UK, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Sweden, and will be managed by Dina Ting, head of Global Index Portfolio Management, and Lorenzo Crosato, the firm added. 

Head of ETF distribution EMEA at Franklin Templeton Caroline Baron said: “The metaverse is expected to grow to $5 trillion in value by 2030 and, to capture this exciting growth opportunity, we have partnered with German-based index provider Solactive AG to develop a distinct ETF backed by the scale and resources of Franklin Templeton.” 

“Headquartered in the heart of innovation, Silicon Valley, our firm is a leader in thematic and technology investing. We are delighted to be an early mover in this space and thus provide European investors with access to a diversified pool of cutting-edge companies across the key metaverse segments at a low cost,” she continued. 

“The new ETF allows investors to diversify their core holdings and satellite thematic sleeves in their existing portfolios with a unique exposure and participate in the expected secular growth of the underlying megatrend that is digitisation,” she said.

The term "metaverse," which originated in the 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, relates to a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection. It is reshaping sectors from advertising to working arrangements. Areas such as space flight, blockchain, e-gaming, virtual working, movies and retail, are all affected.

Already, the working-from-home phenomenon caused by the pandemic has turned elements of fiction into hard reality. Online retail is also a major force, upending traditional bricks-and-mortar shopping models. It combines aspects of social media, online gaming and augmented virtual reality and is widely regarded as the next iteration of the internet as we know it, merging our digital lives seamlessly. (See another example of an investment offering from HSBC.)

Ting added: “We believe that investment in the metaverse and its rising sophistication bode well for the next iteration of the internet, which could profoundly impact societies and global economic growth.”