Law firm Gainey McKenna & Egleston has filed a class action lawsuit against the Credit Suisse Group in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased Velocityshares Inverse Vix short-term exchange-traded notes on the open market between January 29 and ebruary 5, 2018, inclusive, seeking to recover damages caused by the bank's violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

The complaint alleges that investors 'purchased the notes pursuant to a registration statement, including prospectuses and pricing supplements' and that the 'registration statement was materially false and misleading about a metric crucially important to investors'.

The filing also alleges that, on February 5, 2018, at 4pm EST, the market for the trading of the notes closed with the last price at US$99. Less than 30 minutes later, in the after-hours market, the price had dropped to $70.01. By 4.45pm, the price had dropped to $42.81 and then, by 6.28pm, declined to a low of $10.16, a drop of 89.74% from its closing value. The drop in value forced the bank to issue a press release stating that it was accelerating the maturity date of the notes on February 6, 2018.

The complaint also alleges that the Swiss bank 'obtained substantial financial benefits by accelerating the maturity date, because the notes' value was depressed (and the bank's redemption payment obligation was reduced) by the acceleration'. According to the complaint, although investors 'sustained devastating losses' as a result of the bank's conduct, 'Credit Suisse itself escaped without damage'.

The bank announced that, in 'response to certain media enquiries, [it] confirmed that it has experienced no trading losses from Velocityshares Daily Inverse Vix Short Term ETNs (XIV) due December 4, 2030', as reported by SRP.

In addition, Milberg Tadler Phillips Grossman has filed a class action on behalf of purchasers of the Velocityshares Inverse Vix short-term ETNs. The complaint is filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against defendants Credit Suisse AG and Janus Index & Calculation Services LLC and alleges that the registration statement, prospectus and pricing supplement, issued on January 29, 2018, was materially false and misleading because it misrepresented the updating and accuracy of an important valuation metric, the intraday indicative value. It also alleges that the representation of the intraday indicative value was materially false and misleading because it did not reflect the proper calculation of that metric.

Qatar Stock Exchange debuts largest single country shariah-compliant Islamic ETF

Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) has admitted to trading the Al Rayan Qatar ETF, a fund tracking the QE Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) which comprises large and medium sized, shariah-compliant listed Qatari companies. The ETF is the largest single-country Islamic ETF in the world and is the latest addition to QSE's burgeoning exchange-traded fund lineup. The ETF and shariah screening methodology of the underlying index are based on a fatwa issued by Al Rayan's Shari'a Supervisory Board. The Group Securities division will act as liquidity provider for the ETF. HSBC Qatar is custodian and fund administrator. The fund will distribute dividends at least once a year, net of expenses and purification. The total expense ratio is 0.5%.

Lyxor targets Comstage

Lyxor Asset Management parent Societe Generale is seeking to bolster its ETFs and has entered into talks with Commerzbank's equities, markets and commodities division, according to German newspaper Handelsblatt, which has reported that SG is in exclusive talks to buy the division within weeks, after outbidding Goldman Sachs. Comstage offers more than 100 ETF products domiciled in Luxembourg. The asset manager's ETF division has US$84.9bn of assets under management and is the second largest provider in Europe, according to the report. It offers over 200 products, including fixed income and smart beta. On its part, Lyxor has €138.7bn of AUM and advisory, as at the end of January 2018.

LGIM completes acquisition of European ETF platform

Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has completed the acquisition of Canvas, the European Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) platform formerly owned by ETF Securities. The acquisition, which was first announced in November 2017, includes the Canvas platform and embedded infrastructure for ETFs, as well as US$3.26bn (€2.86bn) of AUM across 20 products listed on multiple European stock exchanges and licensed for distribution in 14 European countries. The Canvas range offers investors access to thematic investments in the disruptive technology space, alongside other innovative products from a variety of investment partners. Existing clients will still be able to benefit from the platform's differentiated range of ETF solutions and services delivered by the same team of leading portfolio managers.

Expat AM launches ETFs tracking Eastern and Southern European markets

Expat Asset Management has listed four new ETFs offering access to the largest and most liquid stock corporations from the Czech Republic and Romania, on Xetra and Börse Frankfurt. The reference index of the Expat Czech PX Ucits ETF comprises listed Czech companies that meet certain liquidity requirements and have a market capitalisation of at least Kč500m, while the Expat Romania BET-BK Ucits ETF offers investment in the 25 largest and most liquid listed local companies in terms of market capitalisation. Two more equity index ETFs give investors the opportunity to participate in the performance of listed companies from Poland and Greece. The reference indices of the two ETFs comprise the 20 and 60 largest and most liquid companies in Poland and Greece, respectively. The product offering on Deutsche Börse's XTF comprises 1,235 ETFs.