New York-based exchange-traded funds provider Global X Funds has launched two new thematic ETFs that aim to take advantage of evolving global demographics. The Global X Longevity Thematic ETF (LNGR) invests in companies that are well positioned to serve the world’s growing senior citizen population, and the Global X Health & Wellness Thematic ETF (BFIT) seeks to harness the effects of changing consumer lifestyles by investing in companies geared toward promoting physical activity and well-being. Jay Jacobs, Director of Research at Global X, commented: “Thematic investing is a growth-oriented investment strategy that has long been available to institutional investors. We’re excited to continue expanding our suite of thematic ETFs designed to benefit from some of the major changes impacting the global economy.”

Hong Kong-based CSOP Asset Management has listed the city’s first ETF to offer exposure to crude oil futures while rolling contracts only once a year. The CSOP WTI Oil Annual Roll December Futures ER ETF (stock code: 3135) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 13 May 2016. The fund’s underlying index, the BofA Merrill Lynch Commodity index eXtra CLA Index, tracks the performance of December month WTI Futures Contracts. The ETF rolls over its contracts on an annual basis. By utilising futures to obtain exposure to crude oil, investors are able to avoid the storage and transportation costs associated with direct physical investment in the commodity.

Winterflood Business Services (WBS) has announced it will offer trading and custody of fractional shares on exchange-traded funds from July this year. According to a press release from WBS, the new service will allow ETFs to trade at four decimal places and is expected to open up access for more discretionary fund managers and financial advisers to trade ETFs. “The provision of fractional share dealing is removing a major barrier. We believe this a watershed moment,” said Alex Kerry, head of WBS. “With increased understanding of the benefits ETFs can provide to underlying clients and the wider trend for passives, there are now real signs the ETF market is poised to take off.”

Leading electronic stock exchange group Bats Global Markets (Bats) has welcomed nine new exchange-traded funds from provider iShares to its US market. The products form part of the new iShares Edge ETFs launched by BlackRock, which are a clearly defined suite of factor ETFs, covering minimum volatility, single and multifactor funds. The move marks the largest number of listings in one day for the Bats ETF Marketplace and brings the total number of iShares ETFs listed on the exchange to 40. “We are excited to help iShares launch these ETFs as part of their new Edge suite, which is designed to capture the power of factors to help reduce risk or enhance returns,” said Laura Morrison, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Exchange-Traded Products at Bats.

Four exchange-traded fund providers have joined forces in a bid to better educate the adviser community on ETFs. The ETF Forum has been launched today and is made up of BMO, ETF Securities, Source (in association with LGIM) and WisdomTree Europe. The partnership, designed to help improve the adviser community’s collective understanding of ETFs, will run a series of educational roadshows from 20th June around the UK. The free-to-attend CPD-accredited workshops will feature leading speakers from the ETF industry talking on a variety of topics, including the key characteristics of ETPs, why and how ETFs are traded, and how best to access them.

Tokyo head-quartered Nikko Asset Management has announced it is set to launch an exchange-traded fund that tracks a Japanese equity index made up of firms taking proactive and efficient measure with their investments in capital expenditure and human capital. The ETF will start trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on 25th May. It will track the JPX/S&P CAPEX & Human Capital Index, which has been developed by the Japan Exchange Group (JPX) and S&P Dow Jones Indices. The JPX/S&P CAPEX & Human Capital Index consists of firms actively and efficiently engaged in capital expenditure and human capital investment. Specifically, the top 200 stocks are selected to be used in the index by first screening constituents of the TOPIX.

WisdomTree Europe has launched a new smart beta commodity exchange traded fund with a built-in mechanism that helps reduce the cost of holding commodity future contracts, meaning investors can hold the ETF in their portfolios for longer. The WisdomTree Enhanced Commodity UCITS ETF (WCOA), listed on the London Stock Exchange on Monday 9th, tracks the Optimised Roll Commodity Total Return index, a broadly diversified index with weightings based on the Bloomberg Commodity index. The Optimised Roll Commodity Total Return index consists of 22 commodities with sector exposures of 35.5% in agriculture, 30.9% in energy, 17% in industrial metals and 15.6% in precious metals.

European listed funds made up nearly a third of all global exchange-traded product flows in April, according to BlackRock’s April 2016 ETP landscape report. April flows saw European-listed exchange-traded funds amount to $3.6bn, with global flows for the same period at $11.1bn. The flows represented a marked slowdown on March when global ETP inflows hit $45.5bn as investors remained cautious over volatility in the euro and tightening financial conditions weighing on sentiment. It meant that flows into fixed income ETPs last month felt the benefit of $8.4bn globally. Ursula Marchioni, Chief Strategist, iShares EMEA at BlackRock, said in a statement: “Away from the U.S. developed market equities witnessed outflows of ($11.4bn), as investors redeemed record $6.3bn out of European and $7.8bn out of Japanese equity ETPs.”

Global assets in exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products hit a record high at the end of last month, according to data from ETFGI’s April 2016 global ETF and ETP industry insights report. Assets reached $3.137tn at the end of April this year. Records were also hit across different regions; in United States ETFs/ETPs listed saw assets reach $2.217tn, in Canada $77.42bn, in Europe $533.34bn, in Japan $145.93bn, and in Asia Pacific ex-Japan $125.21bn. April marked the 27th consecutive month of inflows into global ETFs/ETPs. Last month saw fixed income ETFs/ETPs gather the largest net inflows with $7.73bn, followed by equity ETFs/ETPs with $2.39bn, while commodity ETFs/ETPs experienced net outflows with $136m.

UBS has launched three new exchange traded funds offering exposure to commodities and emerging market bonds. The two EM bond ETFs incorporate a currency hedge. The UBS ETFs plc – CMCI ex-Agriculture SF UCITS ETF and the UBS ETF (LU) Barclays USD Emerging Markets Sovereign hedged GBP UCITS ETF are listed on the London Stock Exchange today, while the UBS ETF (LU) Barclays USD Emerging Markets Sovereign hedged EUR UCITS ETF is listed on Xetra and in Italy and The Netherlands. Andrew Walsh, Head of UBS ETFs Sales UK & Ireland, said: “The new commodities ETF tracks a more advanced 2nd generation underlying index and offers investors an opportunity to access broad commodities.”