Lyxor has swapped the index on its European income ETF as it continues to rotate its portfolio into environmental, social and governance (ESG) friendly indices.
The former Lyxor SG European Quality Income NTR UCITS ETF (SGQA) saw its index switched from the Société Générale European Quality Income NTR index to the S&P Euro High Yield Dividend Aristocrats index.
The swap, which took place in August, saw the ETF has change its name to the Lyxor S&P Eurozone ESG Dividend Aristocrats UCITS ETF and started trading under the ticker EDIV, as at 15 October.
EDIV, which has €142m in assets under management, will go from tracking 50 companies to 40 ESG-scoring stocks in the S&P index, with a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.30%.
The S&P Euro High Yield Dividend Aristocrats index has returned 20.1% over the past 12 months versus 18.4% of the Societe Generale European Quality Income NTR index.
The move is part of a growing trend by issuers to rebrand their existing suite of ETFs into ESG-related products, normally via an index switch, that can sometimes have a profound impact on the underlying holdings of the ETF.
Lyxor swapped the index on both its €280m Lyxor China Enterprise UCITS ETF (ASIL) and its $942m Lyxor MSCI USA UCITS ETF (USAL), earlier this month.
The latter changed its name to Lyxor MSCI USA ESG UCITS ETF and slashing the TER from 0.25% to 0.09% in the process, while the China ETF is now known as the Lyxor MSCI China ESG Leaders Extra UCITS ETF with a TER of 0.65%.
While some switches are as simple as placing an ESG screen on the existing parent index, others change the underlying index completely.
DWS has also switched several of its ETFs to ESG indexes over the past couple of months, while BNP Paribas Asset Management did the same to its French equity ETF, now known as the BNP Paribas Easy CAC 40 ESG UCITS ETF (E40).
