News & Research

The Index Industry Association (IIA) provides education and advocacy on behalf of independent index providers worldwide, CEO Rick Redding explains to Qontigo’s blog. With the transformation of the role and shape of indices in full swing, he sees huge possibilities for the industry and for investors ahead – as well as key challenges.

After two years of virtual gatherings, I’m thrilled to announce that the flagship Qontigo Investment Intelligence Summit will return in person this May. This year’s Summit, which we have called ‘Together in ’22,’ will take place in London on May 5 and in New York on May 19. The two events will offer insights on some of the most important […]

Futures on the EURO STOXX Banks Dividend Points Index are trading between 7.9% and 23% below their pre-war prices, depending on the maturity, even as equity prices recover. Traders have raised expectations that a slowing economy may hit lenders’ ability to continue or increase their payments to shareholders.

The war in Ukraine has hit the various business sectors in the equity market in different ways. In contrast, themes such as infrastructure, clean energy transition and cybersecurity have emerged as outperformers. A new whitepaper from Qontigo’s Applied Research team analyzes this divergent performance and what it says about asset-allocation approaches.

Arun Singhal, joined The Podfolio podcast to discuss index investing, and the emergence of smart beta strategies that blur the line between active and passive approaches.

The futures’ price and trading volume have jumped this year. If the French presidential elections this April were to trigger market volatility as did the vote five years ago, activity in VSTOXX futures could pick up further in coming weeks.

Designed to facilitate equity financing, Eurex is introducing new equity total return futures (ETRFs) that replicate popular OTC equity swaps and incorporate the benefits of an exchange-listed product. Stuart Heath from Eurex explains what advantages ETRFs bring to banks and investors, and describes the role of indices in creating the new contracts.

We talk to Paul Lacroix, Ossiam’s Head of Structuring, about the switch of index underlying the Ossiam STOXX® Europe 600 Equal Weight NR ETF, and why an equal-weighted ESG strategy can boost both the ESG profile and price returns of a portfolio.

Fund issuers seeking to design sustainable-investment products to be distributed across European markets face an uphill struggle because of widely diverging national and regional frameworks. A new Qontigo whitepaper highlights the intricacy of Europe’s ESG labeling landscape and provides some recommendations that may help overcome its pitfalls.

Variety in ESG data can enrich investment strategies and provide an edge in performance. Qontigo’s open-architecture approach is to find and leverage the most robust sustainability information available, with no limitation to any single provider, for each investing case.

Rebecca Chesworth, Senior Equities Strategist at State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs; and Hamish Seegopaul, Head of R&D for ESG and Quantitative Indices at Qontigo, discuss the change in underlying index for the SPDR® STOXX Europe 600 ESG Screened UCITS ETF and how clients’ ESG needs are shaping the product offering.

A panel at COP26 comprised of sustainability and index experts, including members of Willis Towers Watson and Qontigo, explains how the STOXX Willis Towers Watson Climate Transition Indices (CTIs) help investors manage climate-transition risk and align their investments for the economic transition to net zero.