ETF Express Newsletter

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NEWSLETTER | 31 Jul 2020

ESG, defined outcome, short and leveraged … ETFs of all flavours

No sign of the summer slowdown in ETF world just yet, so we bring you the image of ice cream, even if we aren’t getting to sit on the beach with a salted caramel cornet any time soon.

This week’s newsletter has an interview with Foreside’s Jim Nash who urges all US ETF providers to call their compliance officers now as the ETF rule settles into place and the December 2020 deadline looms.

Amundi ETF has been busy winning investment from Nordic pension funds Ilmarinen and PenSam for their ESG initiatives. Amundi’s Fannie Wurtz says: “Our recent collaborations with leading Nordic institutions are a perfect illustration of how ESG and climate considerations are now an integral part of their investment strategy.”

More reasons to eat ice cream? Hector and Nik over at HANetf have raised record assets for Europe’s first white label ETF platform, with 600 per cent AUM growth over the last six months, net creations across the entire range of products and assets growing to over USD500 million.

The pair, who launched the firm in 2017, issued their first ETF at the end of 2018. The secret to their success? “It’s because we know what we are doing – it’s as simple as that. HANetf is our fourth ETF firm launch so we have a unique insight into what’s needed and we back our ventures with our own capital,” McNeil says.

Very topical products in the ETF world at the moment include defined outcome or buffered ETFs and JD Gardner from Aptus Capital Advisors explains what’s under the hood in his product, DRSK, designed to limit losses and maximise returns.

Also topical, the results from Tesla which dumbfounded the market, put Tesla into the S&P 500 and were also available for maximising and minimising through GraniteShares’ 3x long or short Tesla ETPs. Read our interview with GraniteShares’ Will Rhind on who is picking up that opportunity for a wild ride.

Readers, I urge you to finish that ice cream and turn your attention to voting in the ETF Express US Awards – find out if you have been nominated and get voting here – the firm with the most votes wins.

We are also still working on the programme for the etfLIVE North America event in October this year – register here to join us. Investors go free.

Beverly Chandler
Managing Editor, ETF Express

Companies in this issue
Amundi
Aptus Capital Advisors
CIBC
Credit Suisse
FiCAS
Foreside
Franklin Templeton
GraniteShares
HANetf
Ilmarinen
PenSam

Call your compliance officer now, says Foreside director, as the ETF rule settles in place

Thu | 30 Jul 2020, 14:09

Jim Nash (pictured), director at compliance consulting and outsourced broker/dealer firm Foreside, is urging ETF issuers to call their compliance consultants now as the December 2020 deadline looms for compliance with the ETF rule, rule 6c-11.

Thu | 30 Jul 2020, 14:09

News came earlier this month that Amundi, one of Europe’s largest asset managers, had expanded its responsible investment offering with the launch of the Amundi MSCI Emerging ESG Leaders UCITS ETF with over EUR500 million from Ilmarinen, Finland’s largest pension insurance company.

Thu | 30 Jul 2020, 14:09

Europe’s first white label ETF platform HANetf has enjoyed 600 per cent AUM growth over the last six months, with net creations across the entire range of products, and assets growing to over USD500 million, according to Hector McNeil (pictured), co-CEO, who founded the firm with Nik Bienkowski in 2017 and issued their first ETF at the end of 2018.

Thu | 30 Jul 2020, 14:09

The market volatility and widespread uncertainty on the global economic outlook has created a more defensive attitude in most investors. The result has been a rise in popularity for defined outcome ETFs, designed to limit losses and maximise returns.

Thu | 30 Jul 2020, 14:09

Research from Cerulli Associates’ Singapore office finds that China’s ETF assets under management (AUM), excluding those of money market ETFs, rose by 14.7 per cent to USD93.6 billion in the January to May 2020 period.

Thu | 30 Jul 2020, 14:09

DWS' Xtrackers S&P 500 ESG ETF has surpassed USD230 million in AUM, raising the overall AUM of the Xtrackers ESG ETF product suite to USD2.7 billion.

Thu | 30 Jul 2020, 14:09

Actively managed ETFs and ETPs saw net inflows of USD7.04 billion during June, bringing year-to-date net inflows to USD26.69 billion which is significantly more than the USD16.41 billion gathered at this point in 2019.

Thu | 30 Jul 2020, 14:09

HANetf ICAV is to convert its Irish domiciled exchange-traded funds (ETFs), currently held in the CREST system, to an International Central Securities Depository (ICSD) model via Euroclear Bank.

Global ETF launches 23-30.07.20

Thu | 30 Jul 2020, 14:09

Another week, and another batch of ‘green’ fund launches – two Paris-aligned, climate ETFs from Franklin Templeton based on a STOXX index, plus the debut on Xetra of a new fund from Credit Suisse focused on sustainable investments with low volatility. Elsewhere, Lyxor added a new global government bonds fund to its low-cost Core range, while Global Beta launched two factor-based ETFs, CIBC a brace of Global Equity funds, and FiCAS debuted an actively managed Crypto ETP…