A slew of new fund launches, ESG index changes, and fee reductions last week.

Brazil-based firm, Hashdex, is expanding to the European market and big news with Morgan Stanley’s official announcement to launch ETFs in the U.S.

Fund Launches and Updates

 

EMEA

Mexican broker Casa de Bolsa Finamex SAB de CV has entered the European ETF market with the launch of the Finamex Mexico International Sovereign Bond 5-10yr UCITS ETF (MEXS) via HANetf. MEXS is listed on the London Stock Exchange with a total expense ratio of 0.55%. Link

DWS has reduced fees on the Xtrackers Global Aggregate Bond Swap UCITS ETF (XBAG), which will be renamed the Xtrackers ESG Global Aggregate Bond UCITS ETF under the same ticker, from 0.15% to 0.10% in the primary 1D share class and 0.20% to 0.15% in the remaining share classes. Link

First Trust has launched the First Trust Alerian Disruptive Technology Real Estate UCITS ETF (DTRE) on the London Stock Exchange with a TER of 0.60%. Link

Franklin Templeton has added the Franklin FTSE Taiwan Ucits ETF to its single-country emerging market ETF lineup.

The new ETF, which has listed in Frankfurt, London and Milan has a TER of 0.19 per cent. Link

Hashdex, a crypto focused Asset management firm, has hired Laurent Kssis as managing director and head of Europe.

Laurent will be responsible for leading the firm’s European expansion efforts which have seen it make new hires across London, Zurich, Paris and Lisbon. Link

The Iconic Physical EOS ETP will be listed and begin trading on European stock markets in the coming weeks. Total expense ratio of 0.95%. Link

Leverage Shares cut the fees on its Tesla short ETPs to zero for six months ahead of the electric vehicle manufacturer’s stock split. Link

Rize ETF has launched the Rize Pet Care UCITS ETF (PETZ), the Rize Emerging Markets and Ecommerce UCITS ETF (EMRJ) which are listed on the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse with total expense ratios (TERs) of 0.45% and 0.55%, respectively. Link

Two updates from VanEck: VanEck has switched the index for the VanEck iBoxx EUR Corporates UCITS ETF (TCBT) from tracking the Markit iBoxx EUR Liquid Corporates index to the iBoxx SD-KPI EUR Liquid Corporates index. Link

They also launched the VanEck Algorand (VGND), VanEck Terra ETN (VLNA) and VanEck FTX ETN (VFTX) which will list on the Deutsche Boerse with TERs of 1.5%.

The VanEck Avalanche ETN (VAVA) and VanEck Polygon ETN (VPOL) will also list on the German exchange with the same fee, having previously listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Link

WisdomTree has launched the WisdomTree Cardano ETN (ADAW), the WisdomTree Polkadot ETN (DOTW) and the WisdomTree Solana ETN (SOLW) on Six Swiss Exchange and the Boerse Frankfurt with total expense ratios of 0.95%.

AMERICAS

In Brazil, asset manager Hashdex launched a Web 3 ETF on the local stock exchange and began 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 has a total management fee of 1.3%. Link

In the U.S., the actively managed, mutual fund to ETF conversion, Cannabis Growth ETF (BUDX) is expected to wind down April 29 after failing to gather assets.

The fund is currently around $3.6m and carries an expense ratio of 0.79%. Link

This week, DoubleLine is set to debut two active ETFs — the DoubleLine Opportunistic Bond (DBND) and Double Line Shiller CAPE US Equities (DCPE) ETFs.

Columbia Threadneedle launched its first active, semi-transparent ETF — the Columbia Seligman Semiconductor and Technology ETF (SEMI) which is using Fidelity-licensed methodology. Link

Morgan Stanley has revealed plans to break into the exchange-traded fund market with a new platform that plans to launch its first ETF offerings later this year. Link

Amplify Holding Company LLC announced that Samsung Asset Management has made a minority investment of 20% in Amplify.

Samsung AM obtains exclusivity to provide Amplify products in Asia.

In addition, both companies will jointly develop new products and marketing strategies. Link

BlackRock has just cut costs across a handful of ETFs – they have reduced the expense ratio on the US$85 billion iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF to 0.03 per cent from 0.04 per cent. Other ETF cut details via this Link

ASIA-PACIFIC

Mirae Asset Global Investments’ Hong Kong unit has recently listed the Global X Hang Seng ESG ETF, Global X Metaverse Theme Active ETF and Global X Electric Vehicle and Battery Active ETF, bringing the total number of Hong Kong-listed Global X ETFs to 35. Link

Noteworthy

Irish funds holding a low level of cryptocurrency and bitcoin futures have been approved in principle by the Central Bank of Ireland for the first time.

The Central Bank of Ireland advised Irish Funds Industry Association that they have approved in principle a Qualifying Investor Alternative Investment Fund (QIAIF) with a low level of exposure to cash settled bitcoin futures traded on the CME.

In 2021 total net sales into Irish domiciled funds reached €310.37bn, of which €131.3bn had been into ETFs.

This represented more than 80% of all the net sales into European ETFs, which stood at €161bn for the year. Link

State Street Global Advisors Asia will be replaced as manager of Hong Kong’s largest ETF — the Tracker Fund of Hong Kong — after a review by the fund’s supervisory committee.

TraHK is the most actively traded ETF in Hong Kong and tracks the Hang Seng index, with assets under management of HK$112.8 billion ($14.4 billion). SSGA was replaced by Hang Seng Investment Management, a subsidiary of Hang Seng Bank, to manage the ETF.

State Street will remain custodian for the fund. Link

Wall Street traders are finally making sense of the turmoil rocking two popular exchange-traded notes after Barclays Plc abruptly suspended sales and issuance earlier this month.

The bank revealed it had made a $591 million blunder by exceeding the amount of structured notes and ETNs it was permitted to issue in a move labeled by one analyst as “bizarre.”

Funds impacted are the iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (ticker VXX) and the iPath Pure Beta Crude Oil ETN (OIL). Link

Not technically ETF related but given the rise of Robos and their importance to growing ETF assets, we included this piece.

Goldman Sachs is buying Chicago-based NextCapital, a robo-adviser that specialises in workplace pensions.

Unsurprisingly, these type of deals in the asset management industry have been booming amid shrinking margins as mid-sized and smaller managers have come under pressure to consolidate or sell to bigger competitors.

More than 1,200 transactions involving asset managers took place in 2021, a record, with $69bn worth deals agreed, the second-highest dollar amount in history, according to Refinitiv data. Link

Additional reads

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) will change its listing requirements to allow the listing of actively managed exchange-traded funds. Link

BlackRock €1.4bn corporate bond ETF fails to get shareholder approval for ESG switch. Link

Defiance CEO, Sylvia Jablonski looks to set her disruptive Tech ETF apart from Cathie Wood’s ARK. Link

A good time to be a crypto ETP investor. Link

In the U.S., bond ETFs revel in record inflows. Link

Principal Global Investors plans to convert six passively managed exchange-traded funds to active management, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show. Link

China ETF investors endure ‘dark’ month as macro factors take over. Fund managers say fundamental growth story, especially tech, has been overshadowed by events. Link

Michael O’Riordan, Founding Partner of Blackwater and Andrea Murray, Head of Business Development will be moderating different panels at ETF Stream’s ETF Ecosystem Unwrapped conference in May 24-26.

They just landed Nobel prize winner Robert Shiller as a speaker – We’ve heard him in person, fascinating topics. Hope to see you there! Link