JP Morgan Asset Management has hired John Adu as head of UK ETF distribution and Tom Stephens as ETF international capital markets head.

Adu joins from Deutsche Bank where he was responsible for cross-asset distribution to the wholesale UK market for the German bank's asset management arm. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Adu was a director at Source ETF for four years where he helped expand the firm's UK and Ireland client base and develop its smart-beta range. Adu has also held roles at IlliquidX, Welbck Consulting and Barclays Global Investors. In his new role, he will be responsible for building relationships with UK professional investors while delivering the firm's ETF capabilities to clients.

Stephens joins from Societe Generale where he was head of ETF execution sales in Europe at worked with ETF clients, global ETF issuers and internal stakeholders. He joined Societe Generale, from iShares' capital markets team where he covered primary and secondary market ETF liquidity. In his new position at JP Morgan, Stephens will lead the firm's capital markets group, building relationships with market makers and authorized participants, while working closely with the distribution team.

Both will report to Bryon Lake, head of international ETFs, who joined in March 2017 from Invesco Powershares.

ETPs listed globally up by 40.9% YTD
Assets invested in active exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded products (ETPs) listed globally have increase 40.9% in the first eight months of the year to reach a new record of US$61bn at the end of August 2017, according to ETFGI.

The research firm reported record levels of assets at the end of August for active ETFs and ETPs listed globally including US$39.6bn in the United States, US$9.5bn in Canada, US$8.11bn in Europe and US$3.79bn in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan).

At the end of August 2017, the global active ETF and ETP industry had 361 ETFs/ETPs, with 432 listings from 77 providers on 20 exchanges in 16 countries.

In August 2017, active ETFs and ETPs saw net inflows of US$1.63bn marking the 32 consecutive months of net inflows and a record level of US$16.45bn in YTD net inflows. This is greater than the US$4.30bn in net inflows recorded at this point last year, and US$8.16bn more than the US$8.29bn net inflows gathered in all of 2016.

According to the report, 64.8% of the global assets in active ETFs and ETPs are 189 active products that are domiciled and listed in the United States; while 72.8% of the assets in active ETFs and ETPs are 115 active fixed income products.

First Trust gathered the largest net ETF and ETP inflows in August with US$531m, followed by Pimco with US$245m, iShares with US$188m and Source with US$185m net inflows.

Apac ETF AUM increases by 20%, inflows fall YOY
ETFGI has also reported that assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) have increased 19.9% in 2017 to reach a new record of US$155bn at the end of August 2017.

ETFs and ETPs listed in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) gathered US$2.67bn in net inflows in August marking four consecutive months of net inflows and a level of US$658m in year to date net inflows which is significantly less than the US$7.58bn in net inflows during the same period last year and US$11.4bn less than the US$12.06bn net inflows gathered 2016.

According to ETFGI, the Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) ETF/ETP industry had 1,134 ETFs/ETPs, with 1,284 listings from 121 providers on 17 exchanges in 14 countries. Equity ETFs/ETPs raised US$1.7bn in net inflows in August, bringing year to date net outflows to US$2.6bn, compared to net outflows of US$466m over the same period last year.

Fixed income ETFs and ETPs gathered US$117m in net inflows in August, growing year to date net inflows to US$708m, which is less than the same period last year when net inflows stood at US$2.7bn. Commodity ETFs/ETPs saw net outflows of US$106m in August with year to date net outflows standing at US$338m, compared to net inflows of US$952m recorded over the same period last year.

Samsung AM gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in August with US$1.01bn, followed by iShares with US$381m and Vanguard with US$335m net inflows. YTD, CCB has gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows with US$1.54bn, followed by Vanguard with US$1.45bn, Yuanta with US$941m and Samsung AM with US$932m net inflows.

BNP Paribas adds three to 'Easy' range
BNP Paribas Asset Management has issued three smart-beta ETFs within its 'Easy' range which targets high dividend shares in the US and Europe as well as undervalued US equities.

The new funds, which are listed on Euronext Paris and Xetra, bring the number of smart-beta ETFs in the BNP Paribas Easy range to 14. The BNP Paribas Easy Equity Dividend US and Easy Equity Dividend Europe Ucits ETFs replicate the performance of strategy indices developed by BNP Paribas and invest in a basket of liquid shares. Meanwhile, the BNP Paribas Easy Equity Value US Ucits ETF replicates the performance of a strategy index offering exposure to a basket of US shares considered to be undervalued, according to fundamental analysis criteria. All three funds have an annual fee of 0.3%.

PowerShares boosts smart-beta offering
PowerShares has listed five ETFs on Bats Global Markets targeted at investors seeking low-cost exposure to smart-beta strategies.

The new tracker funds include the PureBeta MSCI USA Portfolio which seeks to track the investment results (before fees and expenses) of the MSCI USA Index; the PureBeta MSCI USA Small Cap Portfolio which tracks the investment results of the MSCI USA Small Cap Index; the PureBeta FTSE Developed ex-North America Portfolio which tracks the investment results of the FTSE Developed ex North America Index; the PureBeta FTSE Emerging Markets Portfolio which tracks the FTSE Emerging Index and the PureBeta 0-5 Yr US TIPS Portfolio which tracks the BofA Merrill Lynch 0-5 Year US Inflation-Linked Treasury Index. The new ETFs have expense ratios ranging from 0.04% to 0.14%.

Year-to-date, Bats has welcomed 100 ETFs to its US market. In the second quarter of 2017, Bats welcomed a total of 26 ETFs to the Bats ETF Marketplace, and year-to-date has won 36% of all new US ETF listings. There are now 232 ETFs listed on Bats ETF Marketplace, from 40 different issuers.

VanEck Australia reports AD$1bn AUM in smart beta strategies
At least 50% of Australian financial professionals are now using smart beta strategies in portfolios - an increase of 37% year-on-year, according to a survey by Australia's fifth largest ETF provider VanEck.

VanEck's second annual smart beta survey recently found 99% of financial professionals using smart beta are 'moderately, very or extremely satisfied'. VanEck's most popular smart beta ETF - the VanEck Vectors Australian Equal Weight ETF (MVW) holds AD$310m in AUM, while the VanEck Vectors MSCI World ex-Australia Quality ETF (QUAL) holds AD$261m.

The firm stated that its product range continues to 'grow quickly' due to strong demand from investors seeking 'low cost investment strategies with well-defined outcomes'. VanEck expects the Australian ETF market to be valued between AD$70bn and AD$80bn within five years with smart beta to account for a quarter of this market.

Deutsche Bank cross-lists US sector trackers on LSE
Deutsche Bank has cross-listed six US sector trackers on Deutsche Börse and London Stock Exchange. The funds track indices created by MSCI and provide exposure to the energy, financials, health care, information technology, consumer discretionary and consumer staples sectors of the US economy.

Each index is designed to capture the large- and mid-cap segments of the US equity universe while selecting securities classified according to the sector definitions laid out in the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), a well-recognized industry taxonomy co-developed by MSCI and Standard & Poor's.

The new Deutsche ETFs include the db X-trackers MSCI USA Energy Index Ucits ETF (XUEN); db X-trackers MSCI USA Financials Index Ucits ETF (XUFN); db X-trackers MSCI USA Health Care Index UCITS ETF (XUHC); db X-trackers MSCI USA Information Technology Index Ucits ETF (XUTC); db X-trackers MSCI USA Consumer Discretionary Index Ucits ETF (XUCD); and db X-trackers MSCI USA Consumer Staples Index Ucits ETF (XUCS);

Each ETF will track its index physically and will be offered with total expense ratios (TERs) of 0.12%.