John Hancock Investments launched the John Hancock Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF (JHEM) on Monday, marking the 14th exchange-traded fund it has rolled out in collaboration with Dimensional Fund Advisors LP.
The newest fund is intended to be a core international holding, and the index that was designed by Dimensional is weighted toward three factors: smaller market capitalizations, lower relative price and higher profitability. According to fund literature, academic research has linked these factors to higher expected returns.
Dimensional has been devising multifactor investment strategies for more than 35 years.
The JHEM fund’s top five holdings comprise Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd., Infosys Ltd. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Its net expense ratio is 0.55 percent.
John Hancock has worked with Dimensional and its portfolio management teams for more than a decade to create stand-alone mutual funds and provide portions of the John Hancock asset allocation portfolios. The two companies teamed up for their first ETFs in late 2015, and these products include U.S. large-, mid- and small-cap portfolios, international portfolios and a range of sector-specific offerings.