Stoxx will continue to focus on building its role as a leading provider of underlyings as it increases its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region. The latest move from the index provider was the licensing last week of the Eurostoxx Select Dividend 30 Index which will be used as an underlying for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) listed by Mirae Asset Global Investments.
The licensing of the Eurostoxx 50 Select Dividend 30 Index last week represents the third licensing agreement in Asia this year, according to Shirley Low (pictured), head of Asia Pacific at Stoxx. "Stoxx is gaining good momentum in the region and we are expecting to see more ETFs and structured products using our indices as underlying coming to the region over the year," Low said. "Our objective is to bring more smart-beta index strategies to investors in the Asia Pacific region to provide a lower cost option for diversification of their portfolio to potentially improve their risk return profile, whether the underlying index is chosen for ETFs, passive funds or structured product offerings."
Since its debut on the Korean market about two years ago, Stoxx has increased its profile in the market, with nearly half of all Korean products on the SRP database featuring Eurostoxx indices.
According to Low, as the market matures, the index provider expects "to see [providers] moving into our other well-known indices, such as the Eurostoxx Select Dividend 30 Index which offers a higher dividend yield near 5% to further enhance the yield".
The Eurostoxx Select Dividend 30, in particular, has been developed especially for capital protected structure due to its lower volatility, said Low.
It is the first time a European smart-beta dividend index is rolled-out in an Asia-Pacific market although as an underlying for structured products it appears in 343 live products across jurisdictions, according to the SRP database, including 32 added in 2016.
SRP data also shows that nearly a quarter of Mirae's 10,794 products listed on the SRP database feature the Eurostoxx 50 index with the Korean asset management firm stating that the license will help it "meet the various demand of the local market".
Last year, Stoxx licensed the Eurostoxx 50 Daily Leverage Index to Mirae, while last month Yuanta Securities Investment Trust Company issued Taiwan's first Eurostoxx 50 ETF after receiving a Stoxx license in September. In Japan, Stoxx signed a MOU with Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp. (MUTB) last year, to jointly expand the smart-beta footprint in Japan and globally; and licensed its iStoxx MUTB Japan Quality 150 Index to Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management (MUKAM) to underlie a passive index fund.
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