Lyxor Asset Management has become the first ETF provider to offer investors currency-hedged ETF share classes on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index. Through the newly launched Lyxor UCITS ETF EURO STOXX 50 Monthly Hedged C-USD (MSEU) and Lyxor UCITS ETF EURO STOXX 50 Monthly Hedged C-GBP (MSEX), investors are now able to gain USD- and GBP-hedged exposure, respectively, to Europe’s leading blue-chip index for the Eurozone in low-cost ETF format. Arnaud Llinas, Lyxor’s Head of ETFs and Indexing, said: “Our currency-hedged ETFs tracking the Euro Stoxx 50 Index offer exposure to European equities, while mitigating the fluctuations of the Euro against the listing currency.”

KraneShares, a New York-based exchange-traded fund provider focused on China, has unveiled its latest ETF: the KraneShares FTSE Emerging Markets Plus ETF (BATS:KEMP). Listed on BATS Exchange, the new ETF is linked to the newly launched FTSE Emerging incl China Overseas non-R/QFII GDP Weighted Index. The index is weighted by gross domestic product (GDP) and includes China A-Shares and China N-Shares. It has an overweight to China (48% total weight) and India (17% total weight) – a 23% and 5% higher allocation than the FTSE Emerging Index, respectively.

FTSE Group has expanded its range of GDP weighted indices with the introduction of the FTSE Emerging incl. China Overseas non-R/QFII GDP Weighted Index. The new index is composed of emerging markets and Chinese equities including China A-shares, N-shares and S-chips, which are weighted by GDP rather than market capitalisation. Commenting, Mark Makepeace, Chief Executive, FTSE Group, said: “The inclusion of mainland Chinese stocks (A-shares) in international portfolios will have a sizable impact in the future, and FTSE remains committed to helping market participants prepare for this change through the development of new benchmarks.”

The ETF/ETP industry in Europe had an impressive start to the year, gathering $14.9bn in net new assets in January 2015, according to industry consultancy ETFGI. This is the largest amount of net inflows gathered in a month, surpassing the prior record of $10.8bn in net inflows set in July 2014. Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $9.0bn, followed by fixed income ETFs/ETPs with $5.2bn and commodity ETFs/ETPs with $760m. iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in January with $6.5bn, followed by UBS with $2.3bn, DeutscheAWM with $1.5bn, Lyxor with $1.3bn and ETF Securities with $825m in net inflows.

Twenty years after their introduction in the investment industry, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are evolving and gaining momentum more rapidly than in the past, according to a report from SEI, a leading provider of asset management and fund administration services. The report, ‘ETF 2.0: Six Trends Shaping the Next Generation’, identifies six trends that could help push ETF assets to a projected $5 trillion by 2020. John Alshefski, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of SEI’s Investment Manager Services division, said: “The [ETF] industry is evolving on all fronts at once, making a leap much like the one that took the internet from static pages of text to the interactive, graphics-based Web 2.0 environment we operate in today.”

Boost ETP, a specialist provider of short and leveraged exchange-traded products and a subsidiary of WisdomTree Europe, has revealed that trading volumes across its platform hit a record of $518 million in January, equating to a notional volume exceeding $1.5 billion. The new record comes against the backdrop of a rise in market volatility and increasing concerns over the robustness of spread betting and CFD firms, a few of which have entered administration or frozen client accounts in recent months. Trading volumes on the platform have been on a clear growth trend, more than tripling over the past six months.

Amundi has unveiled plans to launch the first exchange-traded fund in Europe to track the S&P 500 Buyback Index. The ETF, which is set to list on Euronext Paris later this month, with subsequent cross-listings on the other main European markets, will provide exposure to the 100 constituents of the S&P 500 with the highest stock buyback ratio over the previous 12 months. The buyback investment theme is supported by a sustainable trend in corporate payout policy in the US, observed since the end of the 1990s, whereby share repurchases exceed cash dividends and have become the dominant form of corporate payout. Buybacks can be triggered by strong balance sheets or undervalued stocks.

BlackRock has expanded its fixed income and equity ranges with the launch of two new iShares ETFs. The funds, the iShares Euro Corporate Bond BBB-BB UCITS ETF (IEBB) and iShares US Equity Buyback Achievers UCITS ETF (BACK), provide highly targeted exposure to European corporate bonds and to US companies undertaking buyback programmes. Tom Fekete, Head of Product Development for iShares in EMEA, said: “Investors are increasingly turning to ETFs as a way to gain precise exposure to markets that have otherwise been difficult to access. These funds give instant and low-cost access for those investors wanting to express a specific view on European corporate bond and US equity markets.”

FTSE has announced the expansion of its FTSE Infrastructure Index Series with the launch of two capped core infrastructure indices. The new indices are the FTSE Global Core Infrastructure Capped 50/50 Index, tracking the performance of listed infrastructures securities in both developed and emerging markets globally, and the FTSE Developed Core Infrastructure Capped 50/50 Index, tracking the performance of developed market opportunities. The indices have been designed for use as underlyings for index-linked investment products such as exchange-traded funds and as effective benchmarks for actively managed listed infrastructure securities funds.

Lyxor, Europe’s third largest provider of exchange-traded funds, has announced the launch of the Lyxor UCITS ETF JPX-Nikkei 400 Daily Hedged C-EUR. The fund, which has been listed on Euronext Paris, is the first currency-hedged ETF to track the innovative and widely followed JPX-Nikkei 400 Index. The euro-hedged fund provides exposure to 400 Japanese companies selected via a smart beta methodology which applies a range of quantitative and qualitative selection criteria, including measures of capital efficiency and corporate governance, to identify stocks expected to deliver shareholder value.