John Hancock Investments has launched the John Hancock Multifactor Developed International ETF (JHMD), the latest in a steady stream of strategic-beta products to hit the market, the company announced.
The product is a collaboration with Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, which designed the underlying developed-market equity index which focuses on such factors as smaller caps, lower relative price and higher profitability. According to the fund literature, academic research has linked these factors to higher expected returns.
This new ETF continues a longstanding relationship between John Hancock and DFA that began in 2006 and has resulted in strategies offered as both individual John Hancock mutual funds and via John Hancock asset allocation portfolios.
The JHMD fund is the 12th ETF that John Hancock and DFA have teamed up on during the past 18 months across various market-cap and sector-specific mandates. The new ETF has a net expense ratio of 0.45 percent.
Andrew G. Arnott, president and CEO of John Hancock Investments, said the addition of the new fund is a “logical extension” of the firm’s product line that brings a multifactor approach to those people wanting to invest in international markets.