Franklin Templeton Investments is the newest voice in the growing smart beta chorus.
The San Mateo, Calif.-based asset manager announced the launch of LibertyShares, a new line of business centered on LibertyQ, a suite of “strategic beta” ETFs.
"Many of our clients have embraced the ETF wrapper for its benefits, including liquidity, tax efficiency and transparency, and now they are looking for more than what a traditional market-cap-weighted index can offer," said Patrick O'Connor, head of Global Exchange Traded Funds for Franklin Templeton Investments, in a statement on Monday. "LibertyQ offers investors our fundamental and quantitative expertise that drives our ability to seek specific outcomes with reduced risk, packaged within the ETF wrapper."
The LibertyQ ETFs include three multi-factor core portfolio funds and one fund focused on dividend income that use proprietary indexes constructed using a factor-based approach.
The three core multi-factor ETFs, The Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF, the Franklin LibertyQ Emergning Markets ETF and the Fraklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF, use indices that seek enhanced returns by employing custom-factor weightings: 50 percent quality, 30 percent value, 10 percent momentum and 10 percent low volatility.
The Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF uses proprietary dividend and quality screens that account for dividend sustainability and growth, and underlying balance sheet strength.
Franklin’s announcement comes on the heels of Fidelity’s foray into the smart beta universe — last month, the Boston-based mutual fund company filed six new factor and dividend ETFs with the SEC.