Nasdaq launches new fintech index

One of the hottest areas of finance now has its own stock market index.

Nasdaq and KBW launched a new fintech index on July 18, 2016.

The index will track the performance of companies that leverage technology to deliver financial products and services and represents approximately $785 million in total market cap.

The index has 49 fintech companies including major data, exchange, trading and payments companies. Their distribution is nearly exclusively electronic.

Global investment in fintech ventures in the first quarter of 2016 reached $5.3 billion, a 67 percent increase over the same period last year, according to a report issued by Accenture last month.

Companies represented in the new fintech index (KFTX) include Paypal, MarketAxess, CME Group, and Visa. In addition to the KFTX, there is a total return version of the Index that has simultaneously launched.

The KBQ Nasdaq index family now includes 10 indexes.

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