Responding to the trend of socially responsible investing, DWS on Wednesday unveiled the Xtrackers S&P 500 ESG ETF (SNPE) on the NYSE Arca.
The Underlying Index seeks to target 75% of the float market capitalization of each Global Industry Classification Standard Industry Group within the S&P 500 Index, using an ESG score as the defining characteristic, according to the fund’s prospectus.
“By bringing this to the market we’ve given investors the ability to put ESG at the core of their portfolio where we see investing trends heading,” said Luke Oliver, DWS Head of Index Investing, Americas.
The fund, with an expense ratio of 0.11%, joins a slew of environmental, social and governance (ESG) ETFs from DWS.
“This fund compliments our existing ESG strategies,” said Oliver. “We’ve priced it as a core holding and that speaks to the DWS commitment to ESG. This ETF was designed so investors can use it in place of core benchmarks.”
All constituents of the S&P 500 Index are eligible to be included by the underlying index except if they are …
• Involved in the production or sales of tobacco,
• Engaged in the business of controversial weapons,
• Fall within the bottom 5% of the United Nations Global Compact score ranking, or
• Fall within the lowest 25% of ESG scores from each GICS Industry Group.
Top holdings include Microsoft (MSFT) 5.60%, Apple Inc (AAPL) 4.68%, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) 4.25%, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 2.10%, and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) 1.92%.
Read more about ESG ETFs in our ESG ETF category.