ETF News: May 9-13
Deutsche Proposes an ETP Alliance Speaking at Index Universe’s Inside ETFs Europe Conference in Amsterdam, Thorsten Michalik, global head of db x-trackers, called for the creation of a cross-border coalition of index fund providers. The alliance would be forged with an aim towards furthering investors’ knowledge of exchange-traded products (ETPs) and establishing uniform best practices across the industry. While we believe that a move towards harmonisation of the presentation and dissemination of critical information regarding ETPs—especially as it pertains to product construction—would be welcome, we don’t expect any level of industry-wide collaboration will materialise anytime soon.
April ETP Inflows Set Record Blackrock’s monthly snapshot of the ETP landscape showed record net inflows into ETPs of $25.3 billion in the month of April. Year-to-date inflows of $67.2 billion also represent a record. In April, the majority of new inflows went into ETPs tracking developed market equity benchmarks, which absorbed some $13.7 billion in new assets, according to Blackrock. At the end of the month, total global ETP assets stood at $1,469.8 billion.
New Launches
ETF Securities’ ETF Exchange (ETFX) platform launched a suite of new ETFs on the Deutsche Börse. Two of the new ETFs track equity indices designed to capitalise on future developments in infrastructure. The ETFX Dow Jones Brookfield Global Infrastructure ETF and the ETFX Dow Jones Brookfield Emerging Markets ETF track indices comprised of companies that own and/or operate infrastructure assets. To be included in these indices, companies must derive more than 70% of their expected cash flows from infrastructure-related activities. The ETF tracking the Global index levies a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.60%, while the ETF tracking the Emerging Markets index charges a TER of 0.65%.
ETF Securities also launched the ETFX-BofAML IVSTOXX ETF—which tracks the three month implied volatility of the EURO STOXX 50 Index. This fund levies a TER of 0.80%. And lastly, there is the ETFX Dow Jones Global Select Dividend fund ETF. This fund tracks an index of the 100 leading dividend paying equities across the globe. It charges a TER of 0.50%.
All of the ETFs on the ETFX platform are swap-based. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Citi, and Rabobank International are all partners on this multiple swap counterparty platform.
Amundi Lists on the LSE
Amundi made a splash in London, listing 16 of its ETFs on the London Stock Exchange for the first time. The French provider plans to have a total of around 50 UK ETF listings within the next three months.
Best and Worst Performers
ETPs linked to the performance of soft commodities topped the list of last week’s best performers. Cotton prices climbed on the back of fears that flooding in the Mississippi River delta would damage the crop in this key producing region of the US. Meanwhile, physically backed silver products abounded on the list of the week’s worst performers as the speculative rally in the white metal continued to unwind in dramatic fashion.
