VanEck launches Australia's first AI‑driven ETF on the ASX

VanEck has introduced the GOAT (VanEck Dynamic International Equity ETF) on the Australian Securities Exchange, marking the country's first exchange‑traded fund that relies on artificial‑intelligence agents for stock selection. The fund will track the newly created Akros Enhanced World ex‑Australia Index, developed with Seoul‑based Akros Technologies. Each month the AI model evaluates roughly 1,200 global companies across developed markets (excluding Australia), scores them on more than 10,000 signals covering fundamentals, technical factors and macro‑economic indicators, and selects the 150 stocks with the highest projected outperformance. Management fees have been cut from 0.55% to 0.49% per year. Current top holdings include Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet, Microsoft, Tesla, ExxonMobil and Caterpillar. Simulated performance of the index shows an annual return of 12.6% since July 2005, three percentage points above the MSCI benchmark. The launch comes amid a record‑setting period for Australian ETFs, with 72 new funds listed in the FY26 financial year, and follows VanEck's broader rollout of thematic ETFs such as global semiconductors, rare‑earth and strategic metals, and quantum computing.