Solactive, a Germany-based provider of financial market indices, has continued to provide innovative solutions for the socially responsible investment (SRI) space with the launch of a sustainable bond index. The Solactive Euro IG Sustainable Bond Index is designed for fixed-income investors seeking exposure to companies with strong sustainability profiles. Powered by ratings from Sustainalytics, a leading global analytics firm covering the environmental, social and governance (ESG) sector, the index has been designed to serve as the basis for future investable products such as exchange-traded funds.

Source, a leading European provider of exchange-traded funds, have launched three smart beta income ETFs in collaboration with Research Affiliates. Rob Arnott, Chairman and CEO of Research Affiliates, commented: “Although there are a number of dividend-based indexing strategies on the market, few seek to assure that the stock is attractively priced on measures other than the dividend yield, and even fewer filter to assure that the dividend is sustainable. We believe our extensive research in the smart beta area has allowed us to produce a truly superior way to earn solid and sustainable income from an equity portfolio.”

FTSE Russell, a global index provider, has signed a collaboration agreement with momentum investing specialist and analytics firm, Trendrating to create a new line of indices. The agreement will see the firms develop new innovative momentum indices incorporating Trendrating’s unique momentum model and supporting data as a core component of the methodology. This latest announcement will strengthen FTSE Russell’s existing range of factor products, including the FTSE Global Factor Index Series and the FTSE Global Diversified Factor Index Series.

PureFunds, a US-based provider of thematic exchange-traded funds, has unveiled the world’s first dedicated video game technology ETF. Listed on the NYSE Arca, the PureFunds Video Game Tech ETF (GAMR) offers pure-play exposure to this increasingly important tech and entertainment sector. The ETF is linked to the EE Fund Video Game Tech Index, which tracks 36 global companies across the video gaming industry. Companies appearing in the index include video game developers, publishers and distributors, platform providers, accessories and peripherals manufacturers, and large tech and media conglomerates whose business models actively support the video gaming and interactive simulation segments.

Copia Capital Management, the discretionary fund manager of Novia group, has launched a pair of smart beta portfolios aimed at the UK adviser market. Teaming up with US exchange traded fund provider First Trust and technical analysis strategists Dorsey, Wright & Associates, the two portfolios are the Copia First Trust Smart Beta portfolio and the Copia Dorsey Wright Smart Beta portfolio.

Thematic exchange-traded fund provider PureFunds has launched the PureFunds Drone Economy Strategy ETF (NYSE Arca: IFLY), the world’s first ETF to provide pure-play exposure to companies designing, manufacturing and researching drones and drone technology. “Like other established investment sectors, technology has been driven by the growth of its various industries,” said Andrew Chanin, CEO of PureFunds. “Investors of all backgrounds have sought the opportunity to diversify their broad technology exposure with a thematic approach, and the PureFunds Drone Economy Strategy ETF offers added flexibility for investing in technology.”

Ossiam, a leading provider of smart beta exchange-traded funds, has launched the Ossiam Japan Minimum Variance UCITS ETF on the Xetra Exchange. The fund provides euro-hedged exposure to the performance of the most liquid Japanese stocks in the S&P/TOPIX 150 Index, while minimising portfolio volatility through an optimisation process.

Stock exchange group Bats Global Markets has launched a new volatility index – the SPYIX Market Volatility Index – measuring the expected 30-day volatility in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), the world’s largest and most actively traded exchange-traded fund. Launched in collaboration with financial indexing firm T3Index (T3), the index is calculated using prices from highly-active, electronically-traded options on the underlying ETF, an improvement over the slower, manually-traded, floor-based S&P 500 Index options used to calculate other volatility benchmarks.

Index provider Markit has released a report showing that assets under management (AUM) in fixed income exchange traded funds are increasing as a percentage of total AUM. The report, which investigates flows into ETFs across a range of asset classes, found that ETF providers capitalised on the trend by dedicating a greater proportion of fund launches with fixed income exposure. The report notes that global AUM for ETFs has risen by $130bn since the start of the year to 7 March 2016, driven by $35bn in net gatherings with the balance derived from price moves in underlying asset values.

Trading volumes at Boost ETP, a specialist provider of short and leveraged exchange-traded products, surpassed the $1.5bn mark in February. The milestone comes on the back of amplified volatility in oil markets and strong demand for its oil ETPs, particularly the Boost WTI Oil 3x Leverage Daily ETP (3OIL). which has proved popular with traders looking to capitalise on a rebound in the price of crude oil. Hector McNeil, Co-CEO WisdomTree Europe, commented: “The growth in trading volumes is a strong affirmation of the value of Boost’s short and leveraged products in today’s volatile markets.”