Nuveen Expands Its Suite of ESG ETFs: Portfolio Products

News June 10, 2019 at 10:26 AM
Share & Print

Lightbulb and money planted in garden (Photo: Shutterstock)

Nuveen added a large-cap strategy to its suite of environmental, social and governance focused ETFs. The Nuveen ESG Large-Cap ETF (NULC) offers exposure to the U.S. large-cap stock market while adhering to certain ESG principles.

It tracks the TIAA ESG USA Large Cap Index, which selects securities included in the MSCI USA Index, trades on the Cboe BZX Exchange and has an expense ratio of 20 basis points.

NULC is Nuveen's 12 ETF; nine of them focus on ESG strategies. The firm's latest annual survey on responsible investing showed a growing interest in ESG strategies, led by millennials (93%) but also among non-millennials (78%). High-net-worth investors indicated that investment performance and risk management were the driving forces for them when choosing responsible investments.

Hartford Funds Launches 2 Multifactor Mutual Funds

The Hartford Multifactor International Fund (HMIVX) and Hartford Multifactor Large Cap Value Fund (HMLVX) are designed for multifactor strategies in retirement plans and use the same approach (and base indexes) previously available though only Hartford Funds ETFs.

"We adapted our existing multifactors to ensure that retail investors and retirement plans alike can leverage them in their continued pursuit of capital returns with the potential for reduced volatility," said Chief Investment Officer Vernon Meyer.

HMIVX, which has an expense ratio of 34 basis points, tracks the Hartford Risk-Optimized Multifactor Developed Markets (ex-US) Index to provide equity exposure to major developed markets in Europe, Canada and the Pacific Region.

HMLVX has an expense ratio of 24 basis points and tracks the Hartford Multifactor Large Cap Value Index. Both funds aim for less volatility over a complete market cycle than traditional cap-weighted indexes.

Innovator Capital Management Expands S&P 500 Buffer ETF Suite

Innovator Capital Management has launched its June Series of S&P Buffer ETFs, trading on the Cboe, which provides exposure to the S&P 500 up to a cap along with downside protection at different buffer levels, over approximately one year.

The latest series, like the four previous ones, consist of three ETFs with different caps on the maximum potential return before fees and expenses and different downside limits (buffers):

  • Innovator S&P 500 Buffer ETF (BJUN): 15.66% cap after management fee; 9% buffer
  • Innovator S&P 500 Power Buffer ETF (PJUN): 9.73% cap after management fee; 15% buffer
  • Innovator S&P 500 Ultra Buffer ETF (UGUN): 9.47% cap after management fee: 30% buffer

All three charge an expense ratio of 0.79%.

OpenInvest Adds Offerings Focused on Racial Justice

The robo-advisor platform that offers direct indexing, customization and impact investments at scale, has added a racial justice cause to its suite of socially responsible offerings.

The new offering builds portfolios by overweighting companies that have set quantitative targets for racial diversity in their employee base and regularly publishes diversity reports on their employee base. It also excludes companies that have been named in recent diversity controversies and companies that disproportionately pollute in low-income or minority  communities.

"OpenInvest's Racial Justice cause aims to tackle socioeconomic inequality head-on by holding Corporate America accountable and empowering investors to use their financial assets as a force of good," said Claire Veuthey, director of ESG & Impact, in a statement. The press release notes that there are only three African American CEOs among S&P 500 companies.

The firm charges a 0.5% annual AUM fee, divided into monthly installments, and no underlying fund expense ratios or transaction fees.

PlanPlus Launches SuitabilityPro

The introduction of this suite of solutions that combine financial planning software with a portfolio monitoring tool starts with FinaMetrica Profiler, which assesses the suitability of investment products and services for client needs. It is the first in a series of developments that will be included in SuitabilityPro.

SuitabilityPro: FinaMetrica Profiler "combines the best in technology with an advisor's professional judgement in a framework developed by PlanPlus" to arrive at a "unique Suitability Score that then maps to an investment portfolio in line with an investor's risk profile," according the PlanPlus Global announcement.

Advisors can adjust the risk score by taking into account their knowledge of a client's risk capacity, experience, knowledge and time horizon. The outputs from this process are fully documented to provide advisors with the evidence of delivering advice in line with regulatory obligations and best practices.

Advisors can register for a free 30-day trial of SuitabilityPro: FinaMetrica Profiler at www.planplusglobal.com.

Fiduciary Exchange Launches Annuities Exchange for Advisors 

Fiduciary Exchange LLC (FIDx) has launched the Insurance Exchange (Ix) to seamlessly connect advisors to best-in-class annuities and insurance solutions from leading carriers.

The exchange brings the accessibility of annuities on part with mutual funds, ETFs and separately managed accounts, according to Fiduciary Exchange. "This bridge from advisory platforms to insurance carriers supports the entire advice lifecycle from accumulative to decumulation — all on one platform, " said FIDx CEO Dan MacKinnon, in a statement.

— Check out Alternatives' Classification Conundrum on ThinkAdvisor.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Related Stories

Resource Center