ETF Express Newsletter 15.12.23

Formidable!

This week we published my interview with Axel Lomholt, head of index business at STOXX, 80 per cent owned by the Deutsche Boerse, and now celebrating its 25th birthday with another phase in its journey, joining with Institutional Shareholder Services’ business operations under the umbrella of the newly created ISS STOXX, described by Lomholt as ‘formidable’.
"In the beginning, STOXX was selling to banks and trading companies and the purpose was to create transparent, easy indices for the sell side and that has been a hugely successful strategy. STOXX is the number one provider of indices in structured products," Lomholt says.
"But how could we work our way with the broader buy side, creating a shift from the targeted STOXX product approach to dealing with clients who want to co-create and co-develop products and bring their own data – that’s sometimes a very different approach."
What’s allowing this shift is the incredible advancement in technology which has led to a huge shift in investment, Lomholt says.
"For us lots of people talk about AI, but the one thing that is our key priority is how do we cope with the sheer volume of data. How do you deal with all that data and transform it into solutions that are relevant for clients."
This week we also brought you a crypto update from crypto ETP veteran, Laurent Kssis of CEC Capital who talked us through the dynamics of this rapidly changing market. Still no news of the long awaited US spot bitcoin ETP but Kssis notes that there are now 13 issuer applications for a spot bitcoin ETF and predicts that one of his own former clients’ products, Hashdex Bitcoin ETF (DEFI) is the most favoured in terms of ETF structure and could come with a clear winner.
The fast growing analysis, data and index providers and Exchange conference organisers, VettaFi, were sold to the TMX Group this week, and we have Jon Fee, VettaFi CMO, urging us to keep it live, and attend the 2024 Exchange conference in Miami in early February. "A conference is the ultimate canvas for branding," Fee writes. "And if they take place early in the year, like Exchange, they can be an excellent opportunity to kick-start your annual marketing and distribution campaigns directly to your target audience."

Beverly Chandler, Managing Editor
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