APG Asset Management and Swiss Life Asset Managers are both backing the launch of a new equity index range from STOXX, which the provider says captures nearly all of the investable equity universe and consists of building blocks institutional investors can use to build their required benchmark.
STOXX, a subsidiary of Deutsche Börse, announced on Wednesday it is expanding its product range with the launch of the STOXX Investable Market Indices (IMI) — “a comprehensive index family designed to support cost-effective modern portfolio construction and benchmarking through a consistent, transparent and scalable framework”.
It said IMI was designed to capture approximately 99% of the investable equity universe, and covered 23 developed and 23 emerging markets, across large, mid and small-cap segments.
The main advantages of the IMI index family over other available indices are, according to STOXX, broader coverage, modular building-block architecture, and comprehensive segment integration.
By comparison, total market indices target roughly 95% of the investable universe, with blue-chip indices covering far fewer companies.
APG Asset Management, which counts the €568bn Dutch pension fund ABP among its clients, is using the new IMI framework as a benchmark solution for a €20bn emerging markets equity allocation, STOXX said.
Hans van Westrienen, team lead quant and index solutions at APG Asset Management, said: “For large institutional investors, the ability to align benchmarks closely with investment beliefs while maintaining transparency and scalability is increasingly important.”
“The STOXX IMI framework provides that flexibility within a consistent and robust structure,” he added.
Meanwhile, Swiss Life Asset Managers is using the products in the context of offering cost-efficient core exposures, the provider said.
