New products introduced over the last week include new income indexes from BlackRock designed for pre-retirees; Fidelity's planned new ETFs that will be subadvised by BlackRock; a new China Internet ETF from Krane Funds; and a new retirement share class for many of American Century's funds.
In addition, Guggenheim Investments changed the index followed by its Canadian Energy Income ETF; Northern Lights Distributors launched a new educational series for advisors; and Sammons Retirement Solutions added an array of new investment options, as well as new fund managers, to its LiveWell Retirement Series products.
Here are the latest developments of interest to advisors:
1) BlackRock Introduces Income Indexes for Pre-Retirees
BlackRock Inc., the world's largest asset manager, announced Wednesday that it is launching a series of indexes that let advisors and their older clients calculate how much annual income they will need in retirement as well as the level of savings they will need to reach their retirement income goals.
At the same time, BlackRock also is filing prospectuses for bond funds linked to the index, with the intention of offering the funds for use within its existing target date funds.
The BlackRockCoRI Retirement Index series was developed to help investors age 55 and older plan for retirement by tracking the estimated cost of $1 of future, annual inflation-adjusted lifetime income beginning at age 65.
Read the full story at ThinkAdvisor.
2) Fidelity to Launch 10 Sector-Specific ETFs With BlackRock as Subadvisor
Fidelity Investments has announced that it plans to launch 10 sector-specific ETFs that will be subadvised by BlackRock. Known more for its actively managed mutual funds, Fidelity seeks BlackRock's expertise in passively managed products to bring its new ETFs to market more quickly than it might otherwise have been able to.
Fidelity has registered the 10 new ETFs, which have not yet been approved by the SEC, in a preliminary prospectus on Friday. The ETFs offer exposure to sectors such as financials, consumer staples and discretionary, energy, telecommunications, utilities, healthcare, industrials, materials and IT.
3) KraneShares Launches China Internet ETF
Krane Funds Advisors LLC announced Thursday the launch of KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB), which provides exposure to Chinese Internet and Internet-related companies. According to a McKinsey & Co. report, China e-tailing accounted for $190 billion in sales in 2012 and could reach as much as $650 billion by 2020.
KWEB's benchmark is the CSI Overseas China Internet Index, from China Securities Index Co. of Shanghai. Krane Funds Advisors LLC serves as the investment adviser to the fund.
