Wealth & finance International - Wealth & Money Management Awards 2017

Wealth & Money Management Awards 2017 12 happen and provides timely updates every week. As trusted partners, we make sure that our clients have the finger on the pulse of the world of indexing and investing. We listen to our clients and their investment needs as they often inspire us to develop innovative indices such as the STOXX Low Carbon index family that caters to investors who want to benefit of the transition to a low-carbon environment. “Ultimately, special requirements call for special solutions. That is why many of our clients in the international banking and finance sectors rely not only on the STOXX index family but also solicit the advice of our index specialists for customized index solutions. STOXX customized indices offer a framework for shaping index ideas to meet specific requirements. We help our clients to get the maximum benefit from our long-standing index expertise, globally recognized quality standards, consulting competence and financial markets expertise. We promise index values that will satisfy our client’s requirements right down to the last detail.” Some of the products are generated using STOXX’s own library and research team and they will also work with academics or institutional investors or ETF providers who also have their own research department. They are fully aware that our indices are independent, objective, transparent, liquid and very tradeable. Clients seeking the latest innovations can always look to STOXX for support, as the firm regularly releases new innovations, as Matteo highlights. “To ensure that we continue to support our clients and offer them the most innovative solutions possible, we have created a number of new product offerings over the past 12 months. In February 2017, we introduced the EURO STOXX 50 Corporate Bond Sector, Rating and Maturity Bucket Sub-Indices. They expand the EURO STOXX 50 Corporate Bond Index, which is the fixed income equivalent of the EURO STOXX 50, including the bonds of the blue-chip companies in the Eurozone. The new sub-indices represent certain maturity buckets, industries and rating classes. “Also in February, we launched the STOXX China A 900 Minimum Variance Unconstrained AM (Accessible Market) Index. This index represents a portfolio of the China A shares, which are accessible to foreign investors through the Northbound Trading segments of the Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect programs. The STOXX Minimum Variance Indices are designed to minimize risk by reducing the volatility of the underlying index. STOXX offers two versions of STOXX Minimum Variance indices: Constrained and Unconstrained. “Then, in March, we introduced the STOXX Climate Impact and STOXX Climate Awareness Indices. This next generation of low carbon indices incorporates the CDP climate change scoring methodology, which evaluates companies based on their progress in the transition towards a low carbon economy.” Moving forward, the firm will draw on these latest developments to drive further innovation and success for both its clients and STOXX itself, as Matteo concludes. “Looking back over the last year, politics played an increasing role in volatility and financial markets generally over 2016 and will continue to do so. We believe that with a defensive and innovative approach you can create the right balance between risk and return. It’s not only the right tool but the right suite of tools. We think the way for us to keep growing our business is to stick to what we are good at, generating rule based, qualitative, transparent and liquid investment strategies. None of our indices are committee based, everything is rule based which is why the clients who use our products know that, with STOXX, there are no surprises.”