John Hancock Investments is getting closer to making its exchange traded funds splash as the Boston-based asset management giant said today it has selected Dimensional Fund Advisors to manage six multifactor ETFs.
John Hancock’s board of trustees approved the product lineup last month, according to a statement issued today. The suite of ETFs includes:
- John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap ETF
- John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF
- John Hancock Multifactor Consumer Discretionary ETF
- John Hancock Multifactor Financials ETF
- John Hancock Multifactor Healthcare ETF
- John Hancock Multifactor Technology ETF
John Hancock initially filed plans for ETFs nearly four years ago, but has yet to bring an ETF to market. However, a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicates the firm is getting closer to launching its first ETFs.
The new filing provides details and expense ratios on the proposed ETFs. For example, the John Hancock Multifactor ETF, which is expected to charge 0.35% per year, will track an index comprised “ a subset of securities in the U.S. Universe issued by companies whose market capitalizations are larger than that of the 801st largest U.S. company at the time of reconstitution. In selecting and weighting securities in the Index, the Index Service Provider uses a rules-based process that incorporates sources of expected returns. This rules-based approach to index investing may sometimes be referred to as multifactor investing, factor-based investing, strategic beta, or smart beta. As currently contemplated, securities are classified according to their market capitalization, relative price, and profitability,” according to the filing. [John Hancock Enters ETF Fray]
The John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF is expected to charge 0.45% per year. That ETFcan hold companies “whose market capitalizations are between the 200th and 950th largest U.S. company at the time of reconstitution,” according to the filing.