Natixis Global, the asset management arm of the French corporate and investment bank, has launched the Natixis Seeyond International Minimum Volatility ETF (NYSE: MVIN), its first exchange-traded fund available in the US market.

John Hailer, CEO of Natixis Global Asset Management for the Americas and Asia.

The actively managed fund invests in a broad range of global ex-US equities. Through careful analysis of the individual holdings – specifically the variability and correlations of their returns, the fund seeks to minimize the volatility of the portfolio.

The ETF is managed by Seeyond Asset Management, which is operated through Natixis Asset Management US. According to Seeyond, the ETF seeks to improve risk-adjusted returns by actively mitigating equity volatility and exploiting behavioral biases.

The fund selects stocks based on risk (standard deviation) rather than investment fundamentals, such as earnings growth or valuations. Management initially screens a broad universe of stocks for those with lower risk characteristics, also eliminating those with insufficient price histories, liquidity, or extreme specific risks.

Secondly, to further minimize portfolio volatility, the correlation of each individual stock to all other stocks in the portfolio is scrutinized. This process helps the team create what they believe is an optimal portfolio mix for pursuing the best risk-adjusted returns.

John Hailer, CEO of Natixis Global for the Americas, commented: “We are excited to bring our active management expertise to the US ETF market. Investors are increasingly interested in accessing our investment strategies through ETFs, and MVIN provides them an active strategy which can react to market events and seek to take advantage of opportunities with all the potential benefits of an ETF.”

There are currently 98 holdings in the fund, which is benchmarked against the MSCI EAFE Index.

It has a total expense ratio of 0.55%.