Thomson Reuters and Affinity partner to launch StarMine World Leaders Index

Feb 26th, 2018 | By | Category: ETF and Index News

Thomson Reuters has launched the Thomson Reuters StarMine Affinity World Leaders Index (TRSAWL) in partnership with Affinity Investment Advisors, a California-based investment adviser.

Stephan Flagel, global head of benchmarks and indices at Thomson Reuters

Powered by StarMine factors, the index has been created for investors seeking exposure to developed market equities with strong fundamentals.

The index is derived from Thomson Reuters Global Developed Index and is comprised of companies which have a strong global footprint, high earnings quality, improving fundamentals, stock price momentum, and trade at relatively attractive valuations.

The index has 171 holdings, of which the largest three are AT&T (1.80%), AbbVie (1.46%) and Pfizer (1.33%). By sector, financials represent 15%, followed by technology at 14%. It is most highly exposed to the US at 55%, followed by Europe at 28% and Asia-Pacific at 16%.  

StarMine provides a suite of alpha-generating analytics and models spanning sectors, regions, and markets, grounded in sound economic intuition and backed by rigorous analysis. This index is powered by these StarMine factors which allow investors access to an index based on fundamentals, rather than market capitalisation alone.

“Today’s global equity investors, now more than ever, need indices that not only provide greater access to global markets, and related sub-sectors, but also provide a greater level of transparency”, said Stephan Flagel, global head of benchmarks and indices at Thomson Reuters.

“The index space is dominated by “passive” cap-weighted indices whose strategy is to just deliver an exposure. Thomson Reuters StarMine has been a leader in providing strategic factor exposure data that represent what we look for in companies. We foresee increasing demand for strategic beta indices, especially as pure passive strategies become extended and momentum abates”, said Greg Lai, CEO and CIO at Affinity Investment Advisors.

The Affinity World Leaders Equity ETF (WLDR US), launched in January 2018 on the Cboe ETF Marketplace, passively replicates the new index. It normally invests at least 80% of its net assets in equities, but it may also invest in American Depositary Receipts and Global Depositary Receipts based on the TRSAWL Index. It has an expense ratio of 0.47%.

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