First ETF In Europe Launched By Lyxor Tracking The Solactive Equileap Global Gender Equality Index

Solactive is excited to announce that the Solactive Equileap Global Gender Equality Index is the reference index for the newly launched Lyxor Gender Equality ETF (ELLE FP Equity), which will begin trading today on Euronext. This is the first ETF in Europe that provides investment access to Equileap’s gender lens methodology.

Equileap, an organisation aiming to accelerate progress towards gender equality in the workplace, joined forces with Solactive back in April 2017 to design a family of indices tracking leading companies in the field of gender equality. Equileap gathered data on over 3000 publicly-listed companies in 23 countries and ranked them according to 19 gender equality criteria covering leadership, career development, work-life balance, equal pay, family leave, as well as health & safety. Solactive developed the indices based on standard liquidity criteria, as well as a light ESG and an in-depth gender screenings provided by Equileap.

The Equileap Global Gender Equality Index replicates the performance of a global basket of 150 shares, including companies such as L’Oreal, Sanofi, and Nike.

The launch of the Lyxor Gender Equality ETF follows the successful release of the Evolve North American Gender Diversity Index ETF (HERS) in September 2017, tracking the Solactive Equileap North American Gender Equality Index Canadian Dollar Hedged and providing exposure to companies listed and domiciled in Canada or the United States.

Timo Pfeiffer, Head of Research at Solactive AG, commented: “The launch of the Lyxor Gender Equality ETF is another achievement for the Equileap family of gender-equality indices designed by Solactive. Thanks to this gender lens methodology, investors can integrate gender balance into their portfolios, which is an increasingly important theme in finance and the business world.”

Clarisse Djabbari, Deputy Head of Lyxor ETFs & Indexing, said: “Lyxor is proud to be licensing this index, and doing our bit to help accelerate progress towards gender equality. By channelling investment towards the 150 companies that lead the field according to Equileap’s ranking, we can encourage others to embrace equality, and move society forward. It’s not just good for society though, companies embracing equality tend to perform better too.”

The Equileap Global Gender Equality Index is calculated as gross total return, price return and net total return index and is denominated in USD. Components are weighted equally and rebalanced annually.