Global X is winning the ETF launch race

Global X is winning the ETF launch race

Global X has kicked off a suite of China-thematic products with an impressive growing list of new listings already this year.

And the race to launch the first metaverse ETF in Europe has been claimed by ETC Group and HanETF as they officially listed last week.

Fund Launches and Updates

EMEA

Another week, another ESG index change. BlackRock plans to switch the benchmark on the €1.4bn iShares € Corp Bond ex-Financials Ucits ETF to the Bloomberg MSCI Euro Corporate ex Financials Sustainable SRI, subject to extraordinary general meeting approval.

The proposed change means the ETF will in future be classified as an article eight fund under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. Link

BNP Paribas Asset Management has launched the BNP Paribas Easy ECPI Global ESG Med Tech UCITS ETF and BNP Paribas Easy ECPI Global Hydrogen Economy UCITS ETF.

Both products are listed on the Deutsche Boerse and Euronext Paris with total expense ratios of 0.30%. Link

FirsttolistinthetightmetaverseETFrace,ETCGroupandHANetf listed the ETC Group Global Metaverse UCITS ETF (ticker: METR) on the London Stock Exchange on 17th March 2022.

Franklin Templeton has launched the Franklin FTSE Taiwan Ucits ETF to further expand its single-country strategies offered through its LibertyShares range. Listing will be in Germany, London and Italy — total expense ratio of 0.19%. Link

Global X has expanded its European range with the launch of four China thematic ETFs.

The Global X China Clean Energy UCITS ETF (CCLN), the Global X China Electric Vehicle and Battery UCITS ETF (CAUT), the Global X China Cloud Computing UCITS ETF (CCLD) and the Global X China Biotech UCITS ETF (CBIO) are listed on SIX Swiss Exchange and Deutsche Boerse with TERs of 0.68%. Link

AMERICAS

In Brazil, asset manager Hashdex is set to launch a Web 3 ETF on the local stock exchange and will begin trading on 30 March under the ticker WEB311.

The fund will follow the CF Web 3.0 Smart Contract Platforms Market Cap Index, which contains digital assets native to smart contract blockchains Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), Algorand (ALGO), Tezos (XTZ) and Cosmos (ATOM). The ETF will have a total management fee of 1.3%. Link

In the U.S., ProShares launched the ProShares Metaverse ETF (VERS) on the NYSE Arca with an expense ratio of 58 basis points.
The ETF tracks the Solactive Metaverse Theme Index, which comprises 40 companies. It includes device makers and data processors, as well as social media and gaming platforms. Link

 

ASIA-PACIFIC

South Korean firm Mirae Asset Global Investments has launched the Global X Hang Seng ESG ETF, the Global X Metaverse Theme Active ETF, and the Global X Electric Vehicle and Battery Active ETF.

Each fund has an all-inclusive management fee of 0.75%. As of December 2021, Mirae Asset has over $236bn of AUM, and offers 396 ETF globally. The group’s ETFs have a combined AUM of $85.8bn and are listed in 9 countries, according to the firm. Link

Flows and Trading Volume

London based ETF data provider ETFGI has reported that the European ETF industry gathered $11.85 billion in net inflows bringing year to date net inflows to $40.91 billion.

Total assets invested in the European ETFs industry decreased by 1.2 per cent, from $1.57 trillion at the end of January, to $1.55 trillion.

Globally, actively managed ETFs gathered net inflows of $14.08 billion during February and total AUM closed the month 2.9% higher, closing the month at $442 billion.

The global active ETF industry has 1,520 products from 297 providers on 29 exchanges listed in 22 countries at the end of February. Link

Noteworthy

 

 

A possible new entrant to the European ETF market? AXA Investment Managers has hired Brieuc Louchard as head of capital markets from Euronext, in a sign the French asset manager could be looking to enter the ETF market in Europe.

Blackwater Search & Advisory‘s founder Michael O’Riordan has predicted that the firm could look at launching active ETFs in particular.
“It looks like AXA IM is about to enter the European ETF market,” O’Riordan said.“ This follows multiple rumours and the recent hire of Louchard as head of capital markets. Link

 

 

ETF news can get a bit dry at times but there is no boredom within the current battle that is under way between the CEO of WisdomTree and Aussie entrepreneur Graham Tuckwell.

Tuckwell is the largest shareholder of $77.7bn asset manager WisdomTree and is demanding that CEO Jonathan Steinberg step down with new directors be appointed to the board.

The dispute follows years of underperformance at WisdomTree which has seen its share price drop by 79 per cent from its peak in August 2015.

Tuckwell in 2005 founded ETF Securities, a London-based ETF specialist which sold its European arm to WisdomTree in a $611mn cash and shares deal in November 2017.

Both parties believed the deal would strengthen the group and make it a more effective competitor to bigger ETF rivals, such as BlackRock and Vanguard.

Since the deal was completed, WisdomTree has registered net investor inflows of around $6.4bn.
Tuckwell, who is WisdomTree’s largest shareholder with an 18.7 per cent holding, has nominated himself for election to the board along with Lynn Blake, a former senior executive at the US asset manager State Street Global Advisors, and Deborah Fuhr, the founder of the consultancy ETFGI. Link

Additional reads

Active funds take more of the fixed income ETF pie. Recent rule changes by the SEC have made it easier for new entrants to make their mark. Link

SFDR key tool for evaluating ESG ETFs, Brown Brothers Harriman survey finds. Link

Investors flee from bank sector ETFs following Ukraine invasion as US Treasuries, gold, oil and gas and commodities funds attract the most inflows. Link