Global index provider Morningstar will review the possibility of including China A-Shares in its emerging markets indices at its annual index review in August 2015. China A-Shares provide physical exposure to domestic Mainland China stocks and represent a significant portion of global assets. While their inclusion would lead to more representative global indices, accessibility difficulties for institutional investors has meant their exclusion up to this point. Sanjay Arya, Head of Morningstar Indexes, commented: “In spite of several improvements enacted by Chinese regulators to improve the accessibility to the mainland A-Share market, the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program is still a long way from being an easily accessible and investable market.”

Assets invested in the global exchange-traded fund industry passed the $3 trillion milestone during May 2015. Deborah Fuhr, managing partner of ETFGI, commented: “Our forecast was that assets would break through US$3 trillion by the middle of 2015. It took the global ETF/ETP industry 19 years to reach US$1 trillion in assets under management, 23 years to reach US$2 trillion in AUM and just 25 years to reach US$3 trillion in AUM. The increasing rate of asset growth illustrates how ETFs have been embraced as an investment solution by institutional investors, financial advisors and retail investors around the world.”

Van Eck Global, the investment management firm behind the Market Vectors brand of ETFs, has announced the launch of the Market Vectors Morningstar International Moat ETF (MOTI), building upon the success of the US-centric Market Vectors Morningstar Moat ETF (MOAT) which has accumulated over $890m in assets under management (AUM) since its launch in 2012. The term ‘economic moat’ was coined by Warren Buffett and refers to the ability of a firm to maintain significant market share and protect their long-term profits.

WisdomTree, a leading provider of exchange-traded funds, has launched the WisdomTree Western Asset Unconstrained Bond Fund (UBND). Unconstrained fixed income strategies provide the investment manager with a mandate to deviate from traditional fixed income benchmarks. Greater flexibility is provided to base investment decisions on the current market environment, permitting over- or under-weighting of bond sectors, as well as varying the duration of the portfolio to maximise returns and better manage risk.

Source, one of the largest providers of exchange-traded funds in Europe, have announced they will be the first European ETF issuer to license the newly launched FTSE RAFI Equity Income Index Series. Lee Kranefuss, Executive Chairman of Source, said: “Many investors have been struggling to generate income in the current environment, with bond yields low and with most high-yielding equity strategies being overly exposed to low quality or low growth stocks. Our investors said they want a strategy that focuses on dividends and is better-structured than what is currently available. This is why we approached Research Affiliates and, together with FTSE, have developed these new investment strategies.”

FTSE Russell, a global index provider, and Research Affiliates, a pioneer in smart beta strategies, have announced the launch of the FTSE RAFI Equity Income Index Series. The indices are designed to track the performance of high yielding, high quality stocks by screening companies on dividend payments and financial health. Jason Hsu, co-founder of Research Affiliates, said: “For a good number of investors, accessing sustainable, high income remains an unmet need. Yields in fixed income remain historically low, while within the equity space, existing high dividend strategies tend to tilt toward low growth sectors or poor quality stocks.”