In the face of market volatility, investors often turn to portfolio diversification as a key strategy. One effective approach to manage volatility is to diversify exposure across various developed markets, which generally provide higher exposure to more advanced industries, lower risks of political or economic instability, as well as greater accounting reliability. In this context, Solactive is pleased to announce that leading Australian fund manager, Betashares, has expanded its engagement with the German index provider by choosing the Solactive GBS Developed Markets ex Australia Large & Mid Cap Index (plus AUD hedged version) as the benchmark for their new ETFs – Betashares Global Shares ETF and Betashares Global Shares Currency Hedged ETF. These products are designed to be suitable as core allocations to global equities in a well-constructed investment portfolio. The currency hedged version specifically caters to those seeking to minimize the impact of currency fluctuations on investment returns.

The Solactive GBS Developed Markets ex Australia Large & Mid Cap Index consists of approximately 1,500 companies from over 20 developed market countries and spans a diverse range of sectors. Many of these sectors are under-represented in the Australian share market. Solactive GBS indices aim to track various segments of the global stock market and employ a selection and weighting methodology based on free float market capitalization.

Betashares Global Shares ETF (ASX: BGBL) and the Betashares Global Shares Currency Hedged ETF (ASX: HGBL) recently started trading on the ASX in May 2023.

Timo Pfeiffer, Chief Markets Officer at Solactive, says: “We are thrilled to deepen our collaboration with Betashares and enhance our foothold in the APAC region. The introduction of the Betashares Global Shares ETF and its Currency Hedged counterpart exemplifies our dedication to offering our clients and their investors the most efficient and transparent tools to facilitate investment decision making. These products present a comprehensive and diversified investment strategy, allowing investors to access many developed markets in a single trade.”

Alex Vynokur, Chief Executive Officer at Betashares, said: “Over the last decade we’ve carefully built a diverse offering of innovative and complementary investment strategies to assist investors and their advisers to build better portfolios. The launch of our new Global Shares ETFs represents a thoughtful addition to our range of core exposures and demonstrates our commitment to maintaining our position as the home of ETFs in Australia”.