Deutsche AM looks to take a lead in the strategic beta market with revamped ETF line-up

The two new ETFs provide minimum volatility exposure to US and Eurozone equity markets, and have been listed in London and Frankfurt respectively. They are the latest in a series of new launches and alterations to Deutsche AM’s suite of products that track non market capitalisation-weighted indices, as it looks to secure a leading position as a provider of strategic beta solutions.

“The expansion and evolution of our strategic beta suite of products this year, and the launch of our new minimum volatility ETFs, places us in a strong position to become the leading provider of strategic beta ETFs in Europe,” said Martin Weithofer, Deutsche AM’s Head of Strategic Beta.

Deutsche AM’s strategic beta ETFs incorporate a number of equity and fixed income funds. It now has 28 strategic beta ETFs within its Europe and Asia-listed UCITS ETF range, representing almost EUR 5 billion in assets – out of a total of approximately EUR 51 billion in total UCITS ETFs assets under management [1].

The new launches complement Deutsche AM’s ETFs providing exposure to MSCI equity factor indices – specifically to quality, value, momentum and global minimum volatility factors. On top of the factor ETFs, the strategic beta range also includes dividend-weighted, equal-weighted, and small-cap-weighted equity exposures. On the fixed income side, the range includes Eurozone and emerging markets qualityweighted sovereign exposure, and ETFs targeting ‘yield plus’ sovereign and corporate bond exposure – higher yielding fixed income exposure but still mainly to investment grade bonds.

The new minimum volatility ETFs are the db x-trackers MSCI USA Minimum Volatility UCITS ETF (DR) [2] , and the db x-trackers MSCI EMU Minimum Volatility UCITS ETF (DR) [3] . The ETFs are direct, physical replication funds.

Earlier this month Deutsche AM hosted its second annual Smart Beta Summit event in Frankfurt, with more than 150 investors from across Europe gathering to hear the latest insights from leading figures within the industry.

Weithofer added: “We expect the rapid growth in strategic beta investing to continue in the coming years. We’re determined Deutsche AM will be at the forefront of this important trend.”