New index launches

As the EURO iSTOXX Ocean Care 40 is named Index of the Year by SRP, we dive deeper into the drivers behind the launch of the thematic index. We talk to Céline Jaquelin, responsible for French Institutional Clients at SILEX, Qontigo’s partner in the design of the Ocean Care indices.

The iSTOXX MUTB Japan Low Carbon Risk 30 Index tracks those Japanese companies with the best profile in terms of carbon emissions and carbon risk management, and additionally screens for quality characteristics including high profitability. The index, which expands STOXX’s collaboration with Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB), will underlie an ETN to be listed by Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd. (MUMSS) in Tokyo.

The iSTOXX® USA Ocean Care 40 Index follows on the success of the EURO iSTOXX® Ocean Care 40 Index and tracks companies whose operations and programs are helping stem the degradation of the world’s water bodies, marine ecosystems and the environment.

The idDAX 50 ESG NR Decrement 4.0% can be used to underlie structured products offering exposure to sustainability leaders in the German equity market. The decrement mechanism allows issuers to improve the coupon or capital-protection terms offered to clients.

The ETPs are issued by Leverage Shares and add to a list of more than 100 existing products. They include underlyings such as Taiwan Semiconductor and Moderna, and enable investors and traders to efficiently gain leveraged and short exposure to the target stock.

The STOXX Willis Towers Watson Climate Transition Indices (CTIs) are an innovative new family of indices designed to manage climate transition risk through a forward-looking, bottom-up analysis of the impact on company valuations from moving to a low-carbon economy. The indices help address risks and opportunities arising from climate transition in a transparent, systematic way and result in portfolios consistent with the Paris Agreement goals.

We talk to Abhishek Gupta, FlexShares’ Senior Quantitative Strategist, about the company’s new ETFs covering low volatility and high dividend strategies in emerging markets. The funds, which track STOXX indices, include Northern Trust Asset Management’s proprietary quality and ESG screens, as well as climate filters, aimed at helping improve risk-adjusted returns.

The iSTOXX APG World Responsible Investment Indices were designed to ‘layer in’ various sustainability filters in order to measure the effect on risk and returns of each individual ESG criteria on a developed-markets global equities portfolio. Hamish Seegopaul and Yurong Gu explain how the new indices came about and discuss the value of the collaboration with the Netherlands’ APG and with BlackRock.

Ronald van Dijk, Deputy CIO at APG Asset Management, discusses how the recently launched iSTOXX APG World Responsible Investment Indices help pension funds and other investors incorporate different layers of sustainability ambitions on portfolios in an innovative, flexible and transparent way.

Chris Huemmer, Northern Trust Asset Management’s Senior Investment Strategist, discusses his firm’s innovative ETFs tracking multi-factor, ESG and climate strategies, and the role of an index provider in wrapping up a holistic investment approach.

The STOXX SRI (Socially Responsible Investing) indices are part of Qontigo’s index-based sustainability solutions framework, which grew this year to address investors’ varied ESG needs and ambitions. The SRI indices seek to improve the ESG profile of the portfolio and lower its carbon emissions.

As a new batch of ETPs tracking STOXX single-stock short and leveraged indices is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext, we talk to Oktay Kavrak from issuer Leverage Shares to find out how the products work and how investors are using them.