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

Rize ETF
Rize ETF has launched a new global infrastructure fund – Rize Global Infrastructure UCITS Exchange Traded Fund (NFRA) – classified under Article 9 of the EU’s Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), as well as Rize USA Environmental UCITS ETF (LUSA), also classified under Article 9 of the SFDR.  

Both are listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Xetra), with listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange due in the coming weeks, the firm, which is a specialist ETF issuer, said in a statement. Both ETFs also carry an OCF of 0.45 per cent and aim to provide investment returns that correspond generally to the Foxberry SMS Global Sustainable Infrastructure USD Net Total Return Index and the Foxberry SMS USA Environmental Impact USD Net Total Return Index, respectively, before fees and expenses.

According to the firm, Rize Global Sustainable Infrastructure UCITS ETF (NFRA) specifically targets companies that are making a substantial contribution to global sustainable infrastructure development. These are firms involved in maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure of more industrialised economies, as well as companies developing new infrastructure required for the economic advancement of less industrialised economies as part of our transition to a greener, more sustainable economy.

NFRA is differentiated in offering an investment approach that goes beyond traditional thematic investment in “pure play” infrastructure companies (those generating at least 50 per cent of their revenue from infrastructure-related business activities), the firm continued.

Specifically, NFRA integrates both the Rize Future First ESG policy and programme, which, among other things, excludes all exposure to fossil fuel infrastructure, and embeds a Sustainability Contribution Adjustment Framework, which aims to evaluate and score each company for its contribution to environmental and social objectives of the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities (“EU Taxonomy”) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The latter analysis takes into account the geographical region in which the company operates, the firm said. 

“The Rize Global Infrastructure UCITS ETF (NFRA) enables traditional ETF investors to access global infrastructure in a way that balances economic, environmental and social objectives,” Rahul Bhushan, co-founder and director of Rize ETF, said. 

Meanwhile, Rize USA Environmental Impact UCITS ETF (LUSA) targets US companies that are making a substantial contribution to one or more of the six environmental objectives of the EU Taxonomy.

LUSA employs a proprietary classification methodology developed in collaboration with sustainability experts, which deconstructs the six environmental objectives of the EU Taxonomy into a series of “high impact” investment sub-sectors, the firm said. These sub-sectors include renewables, energy efficiency, hydrogen and alternative fuels, clean water, electric vehicles and the transition to a circular economy. Collectively, these are select US companies developing and applying innovative and impactful solutions to the world’s most pressing climatic and environmental challenges, the firm continued.

“The Rize USA Environmental Impact UCITS ETF (LUSA) seamlessly extends our environmental range of Article 9 ETFs. For quite some time, we have firmly believed that regionalising thematic ETF exposures is essential, as it empowers investors to express more precise views. This approach also enhances the utility and functionality of such investments within portfolios,” Stuart Forbes, co-founder and director of Rize ETF, said. 

Quilter Cheviot
Investment manager Quilter Cheviot announced this week that its managed portfolio service (MPS) is available to financial advisors using the Morningstar Wealth Platform, Fundment and Titan platforms.

This latest move takes the total number of advisor platforms the Quilter Cheviot MPS is available on to 15, the firm said in a statement. Managed by Simon Doherty and Antony Webb, Quilter Cheviot’s MPS uses a ’building blocks’ structure – a range of funds designed and actively managed by Quilter Cheviot, exclusively for use within its MPS.

Each building block is designed to provide specific geographic or asset class exposure, and invests in a combination of direct equities, bonds or external fund holdings, providing clients with a solution that is more agile and lower cost than one with a traditional funds-based approach.

“We are delighted to expand our availability to advisors by putting our MPS on three more quality platforms. Our MPS was one of the first in the market and as such we have been strong advocates of making it as accessible as possible, and this means working closely with advisor platforms,” Simon Doherty, head of managed portfolio services at Quilter Cheviot, said.