Investment Product and Service Launches

Bloomberg Launches Global Aggregate Green, Social, Sustainability Bond Indices

Bloomberg has announced the launch of the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Green, Social, Sustainability Bond Indices. The indices utilize the flagship Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index, the Bloomberg Sustainable Finance Group’s green, social and sustainability bond indicators, and fields that show alignment with the International Capital Market Association Green Bond, Social Bond and Sustainability Bond Principles and Guidelines.

By launching the indices with datasets from Bloomberg’s environmental, social and governance data team, Bloomberg Terminal clients will also benefit from transparency into underlying bond documentation. This includes the use of proceeds allocation to the eligible project categories and subcategories, as well as alignment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, offering seamless integration across portfolio management workflows, including for performance and attribution. A newly released “Sustainable Index Eligibility Indicator” field enables Bloomberg Terminal clients to analyze those securities currently included in the index, as well as those facing potential exclusion.

The universe of eligible instruments, ranging across corporates, sovereign, supranational and agency bonds, municipals and structured products, are individually researched and maintained by a dedicated Bloomberg fixed income and ESG data team. This ensures securities are quickly reviewed and appropriately tagged, using Bloomberg’s data gathering and processing technologies. All securities are further reviewed to ensure ongoing reporting is confirmed through the filing of impact and allocation reports by the issuer. This process results in a robust universe of eligible sustainable securities for inclusion in the index.

The indices are now available for benchmarking, asset allocation and product creation. The indices can be further customized to meet specific individual investor needs using additional fields such as specific exclusions, regulatory “aware” fields, such as SFDR and EU Taxonomy inputs, and even sector specific weightings, among others.

AllianzIM Expands Lineup of U.S. Large Cap Buffered ETFs

Allianz Investment Management LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, announced the launch of a monthly series of U.S. large cap buffered exchange-traded funds suite, starting with new November funds. The two new ETFs are the AllianzIM U.S. Large Cap Buffer10 Nov ETF and the AllianzIM U.S. Large Cap Buffer20 Nov ETF.

AllianzIM’s buffered ETF solutions seek to provide downside risk mitigation through a buffer against the first 10% and 20% of market losses and offer upside potential by tracking the share price returns of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up to a stated cap.

Offered at an expense ratio of 74 basis points, AllianzIM’s extensive suite of buffered ETFs with six- and 12-month outcome periods provide the opportunity for investors to invest in ETFs with new caps and buffers every month. The 12-month outcome period of the November series ETFs will be November 1, 2022, to October 31, 2023. Each outcome period reflects a new stated cap commensurate with prevailing market conditions, allowing investors to remain invested with a level of risk mitigation.

Morningstar Direct Indexing Combines Market-Leading Technology and Investment Management

Morningstar Wealth has launched Direct Indexing, an investment offering that draws from industry-leading research, technology, and insights across the Morningstar organization to help deliver greater personalization, automation, and tax efficiency for advisers and their investors. Morningstar Direct Indexing is unique in uniting extensive in-house capabilities – Morningstar’s Investment Management, Morningstar Indexes, Morningstar Sustainalytics, and Morningstar Equity Research – to create and manage personalized investment strategies at scale. Direct Indexing portfolios will be made available through the Morningstar Wealth Platform to start.

Direct indexing allows advisers to build a portfolio that tracks a broad index efficiently while typically buying all, or a subset, of the index holdings. This approach makes direct ownership of underlying securities practical for more individuals, allowing them to personalize their holdings based on preferences and select additional services like tax-loss harvesting, tax-lot consideration, and holding period management. 

CrowdStreet Advisors Brings Private Commercial Real Estate Investment Solutions to Financial Advisers

CrowdStreet, Inc., a real estate investing platform, has announced plans to accelerate the development and support for products and services designed to meet the needs of the growing number of financial advisers looking to diversify client portfolios with opportunities outside of the public markets, like private commercial real estate and other alternative investments. CrowdStreet Advisors, LLC combines a team of highly experienced commercial real estate and investment management professionals with a group of financial technology innovators dedicated to working with advisers to bring exclusive boutique real estate investments to their clients.

As of September 30, CrowdStreet Advisors had $431 million in assets under management across separately managed accounts and more than 25 private funds. Its flagship fund, CrowdStreet REIT I, was recently launched and offers advisers a low-cost entry point and professionally managed option for clients interested in investing in multiple private commercial real estate projects focused on growth and capital appreciation in middle markets with gross asset values typically ranging from $40 million to $100 million. C-REIT has quickly raised $37 million and is approved on major custody platforms, including Fidelity, Schwab, Pershing, TD Ameritrade, as well as 17 self-directed individual retirement account custodians.

CrowdStreet Advisors’ accelerated expansion of support for financial advisers is being driven by investors who are increasingly asking their advisers for more ways to diversify their portfolios and for assets that may help mitigate the effects of inflation.

CrowdStreet Advisors provides access to a curated selection of private commercial real estate investments that have historically only been made available to institutional investors by firms offering private funds with high investment minimums.

The CrowdStreet Advisors Edge:

• Unique access to middle-market commercial real estate projects sourced from a proprietary network of 300+ sponsors and operators.
• Dedicated team including more than 78 cross-organizational professionals involved in all aspects of the investment process, with CrowdStreet Advisors’ portfolio management curating investments for funds.
• Service-oriented investor relations team to guide advisers through the investment process and provide ongoing, hands-on support over the life of an investment.
• Continuous research and analysis to help advisers stay informed about the commercial real estate market and its role in client portfolios.

Vanguard Environmental Fund Now Available for Investment

Vanguard Global Environmental Opportunities Stock Fund is now available for investment. Investors can now begin purchasing shares during a two-week subscription period. The fund will begin pursuing its investment objective on November 16.

Managed by Ninety One North America, Inc., the fund takes a structured, research-driven approach to investing that targets companies seeking to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon world. Portfolio managers Deirdre Cooper and Graeme Baker invest in companies they believe will benefit from long-term structural tailwinds driven by the global transition to a lower-carbon economy. The fund invests in approximately 25 companies involved in activities including renewable energy, resource efficiency, and electrification.

The fund caters to environmentally conscious investors who have a higher risk tolerance and want to augment a broadly diversified portfolio. At launch, the fund will have both investor shares (ticker: VEOIX, expense ratio: 0.75%, minimum initial investment: $3,000) and admiral shares (VEOAX, 0.60%, $50,000).

The Global Environmental Opportunities Stock Fund is the first Vanguard fund managed by Ninety One. The fund’s portfolio managers have extensive expertise and a proven track record in global and decarbonization investing. Cooper is head of sustainable equities at Ninety One and has developed deep experience in sustainable investing throughout her 25-year career in the industry. Baker is a portfolio manager on the sustainable equities team with 16 years of industry experience.

FTSE Russell Introduces Russell 3000 Fixed Income Index

FTSE Russell, a global index provider, has announces the launch of a new Russell 3000 Fixed Income Index and Russell 1000 Fixed Income and Russell 2000 Fixed Income sub-indices. Together with its sub-indices, the Russell 3000 Fixed Income Index delivers a curated market weight benchmark for investors, who seek precision allocation to track the U.S. domestic corporate bond market.

• Centered on debt issued by Russell 3000 issuers, the index brings a unique lens to corporate benchmarking and avoids the unintended risks of foreign asset exposures within U.S. corporate portfolios.
• Provides a passive ‘crossover’ element which captures corporate bonds straddling U.S. investment-grade and high-yield markets.
• Aligns in selection and reporting with its equity counterpart and should resonate with multi-asset investors who seek a balanced portfolio across U.S. equity and fixed income assets. 

The Russell 3000 Fixed Income Index tracks the U.S. corporate bond market by focusing on the debt of the large, publicly traded companies and the debt of their U.S.-domiciled subsidiaries that make up its equity counterpart, the Russell 3000 Equity Index. This index of domestic U.S. bond issuers helps investors to manage corporate credit risk exposure in a domestic portfolio.

The Russell 1000 Fixed Income Index and the Russell 2000 Fixed Income Index membership corresponds to the equivalent equity sub-indices of the Russell 3000, granting investors flexibility and transparency in their asset allocation strategy. This consistent approach to issuer and sector positioning across Russell indices allows for holistic portfolio construction.

• The Russell 3000 Fixed Income Index includes debt of public companies in the Russell 3000 and their U.S. subsidiaries. The index supports multi-asset strategies, and cross-sector research, and tracks performance by the ICB industry classification.
• The Russell 1000 Fixed Income Index captures debt of public companies in the Russell 1000 and their U.S. subsidiaries and is a sub-index of the Russell 3000 Fixed Income index.
• The Russell 2000 Fixed Income Index comprises debt of public companies in the Russell 2000 and their U.S. subsidiaries and is a sub-index of the Russell 3000 Fixed Income Index. The index is uniquely positioned to support the needs of private equity investors to track fixed income component of private equity.

BNY Mellon Investment Management Launches Active Global Infrastructure Income ETF

BNY Mellon Investment Management, an asset manager with $1.8 trillion in assets under management, has announced the launch of the BNY Mellon Global Infrastructure Income ETF. The ETF, which is listed on Cboe Global Markets, is sub-advised by Newton Investment Management North America, LLC, a BNY Mellon investment firm and leading equity and multi-asset manager with a long track record of investing experience.

The BNY Mellon Global Infrastructure Income ETF provides exposure to traditional and non-traditional infrastructure stocks while also seeking to deliver quarterly income through a global equity portfolio. The fund’s traditional infrastructure set includes energy, industrials and utilities, and its non-traditional infrastructure consists of communications, health care and real estate. The fund’s dual mandate looks to provide exposure to listed infrastructure while targeting an annualized gross forward-looking 12-month yield of 6% or more for its portfolio.

The BNY Mellon Global Infrastructure Income ETF is managed by Newton’s deputy chief investment officer of equities and head of equity income, James Lydotes, and the firm’s head of global equity research, Brock Campbell.