Morgan Stanley has been accepted as a new member of the Nordic Growth Market (NGM) structured products specialist exchange and started issuing exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the Swedish market yesterday.

The US investment bank, which has been present in Sweden since 1997 and has also previously acted as third party/bond provider on 25 structured products issued in the Swedish market by Garantum Fondkomission, Mangold Fodkomission, and EFG Bank, expanded its operations in the country with the launch of a listed range of mini futures and bull & bear certificates on May 19, 2015.

There has been increasing interest among investors in ETPs across Europe and servicing these investors is a natural extension of Morgan Stanley's existing capabilities, said Christian Bährne (pictured), institutional equity division at Morgan Stanley. "Sweden is one of the fastest growing ETP markets in Europe and we are delighted to work with Avanza, the leading online stock broker in this market," said Bährne. "They have a strong focus on transparency and education, which we think is important so that investors are aware of both the benefits and risks of different product types."

The new range of products is available from Avanza, an ETP broker dealer and adviser in Sweden, and marketed under the name Avanza Markets. All products are traded free of commission if the order is over SEK1,000 (€107).

Avanza has marketed 36 non-listed structured products in Sweden since 2003, but it has not been an active provider since 2010 when it launched its last commodities-linked certificate, (Kupongcertifikat Råvaror), a five-year knockout/worst-of growth product linked to the performance of the S&P GSCI Nickel ER, S&P GSCI Oil ER, S&P GSCI Natural Gas ER Index and S&P GSCI Wheat ER, which is set to mature in January 2016.

NGM welcomed Morgan Stanley as it further strengthens the exchange as the leading stock exchange in the ETP segment in the Nordics, according to Tommy Fransson, deputy chief executive officer at NGM. "Morgan Stanley broadens our selection of ETP s which gives investors more options to choose from," said Fransson.

Morgan Stanley is the second foreign provider to enter Sweden's listed market following the arrival of Vontobel, which launch into NGM in January with a range of bull and bear structured certificates aimed at private and institutional investors.

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