Morgan Stanley has launched 12 leverage and inverse exchange traded notes (ETNs) which have been listed on the STO Exchange Traded Notes' segment of Nasdaq Stockholm.
The new suite of ETNs includes three bear USD/JPY and three bull USD/JPY notes tracking the OMX Stockholm 30 with leverage factors of X5, X10 and X15; as well as three bear EUR/JPY and three bull EUR/JPY notes tracking the OMX Stockholm 30 with leverage factors of X5, X10 and X15
The OMX Stockholm 30 (OMXS30) is a capitalization-weighted index that consists of the 30 most-traded stock classes on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The OMXS30 is featured in over 7,000 live structured products of which 6748 have been marketed in the Swedish market.
Nasdaq Stockholm fines Bitcoin ETN issuer XBT Provider
Nasdaq Stockholm's Disciplinary Committee has imposed a fine on XBT Provider amounting to SEK1m approximately US$122,270 after the exchange found that Swedish domiciled XBT Provider breached its rule book for issuers of warrants and certificates and other regulations in several respects.
XBT Provider manages Bitcoin Tracker One and Bitcoin Tracker Euro, the first two ETNs tracking the performance on Bitcoin. According to Nasdaq, XBT Provider failed to ensure that the risk function reports to the board; failed to implement an audit of the company's internet and IT security; failed to manage a significant change in operations in accordance with the Internal rule book; and failed to ensure that the regulatory compliance function monitored and controlled the company's compliance with applicable legislation and the Internal Rule Book or reported to the board in accordance with the internal rule book.
The board of directors of XBT Provider accepted, on behalf of the Issuer, the findings of Nasdaq Stockholm but pointed that the 'substantial majority of the infractions' to which the decision related occurred within 2015 and the first six months of 2016, which was prior to the acquisition of the issuer's group by the Global Advisors group (the most prominent former owner being, at the time of such acquisition, in bankruptcy).
XBT Provider's stated that since acquisition by the Global Advisors group an entirely new management team has been put in place, a major and comprehensive remediation project has been completed and the issuer's assets under management have grown ten-fold. The issuer also confirmed that it has extensive plans to expand its current product offerings of digital-asset certificates and continues its mission to lead in the professionalization of the cryptocurrency and blockchain markets.
Smart beta ETPs listed globally hit US$592bn record in H1 2017
Assets invested in smart beta equity ETFs/ETPs listed globally have reached a new record of US$592bn at the end of the first half of 2017, according to ETFGI.
Year to date through end of June 2017, smart beta equity ETF/ETP assets have increased by 14.9% from $515bn to $592bn, with a five-year CAGR of 31.9%. At the end of June 2017, there were 1,255 smart beta equity ETFs/ETPs, with 2,159 listings, assets of $592bn, from 153 providers on 39 exchanges in 32 countries.
Eighty nine per cent of smart beta assets are invested in the 617 ETFs/ETPs that are domiciled and listed in the United States and 76% of the assets are invested in smart beta ETFs/ETPs that provide exposure to the US market. YTD, iShares gathered the largest 'smart beta' ETF/ETP net inflows with $13.18bn, followed by Vanguard with $7.81bn and Charles Schwab Investment Management with $4.46bn net inflows.
YTD, products tracking S&P Dow Jones 'smart beta' benchmarks gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows year to date with $11.62bn, followed by CRSP with $6.78bn and MSCI with $6.31bn in net inflows.
BlackRock launches diversified commodities ETF
BlackRock has launched an ETF providing exposure to a variety of commodity markets for investors seeking portfolio diversification tools, at a time when the correlation between historically uncorrelated asset classes is rising.
The iShares Diversified Commodity Swap Ucits ETF delivers exposure to 20 different commodities representing five sectors including: energy, agriculture, industrial metals, precious metals and livestock. The fund seeks to replicate the performance of the Bloomberg Commodity USD Total Return Index. This index aims to represent commodities that are of importance and economic significance to the world economy, while capping each sector at 33% and each single commodity at 15%.
The fund uses unfunded total return swaps to achieve this exposure, which is more operationally practical than holding physical commodities such as precious metals or livestock. The fund has a total expense ratio of 0.19%.
WisdomTree model portfolios featured Envestnet Wealth Management Platform
WisdomTree Investments has made available its model portfolios via the Envestnet Wealth Management platform, a provider of systems for 'wealth management and financial wellness'.
WisdomTree's model portfolios utilize WisdomTree and non-WisdomTree ETFs in order to provide investors with 'alpha generating strategies in a cost-efficient manner'. Outside of strategist fees, the underlying expense ratios for the model portfolios begin at 0.10%. The model portfolios which incorporate both asset allocation and ETF selection will be available to more than 55,000 advisors, almost six million investor accounts, and over $1.1tr in total platform assets.
First Trust Global Portfolios lists actively managed tracker on LSE
First Trust Global Portfolios has launched the First Trust FactorFX Ucits ETF (LON: FTFX), the first actively managed foreign exchange (FX) ETF in Europe. FTFX will hold a basket of between 20 to 30 currency pairs in developing and emerging markets through forward FX contracts, futures, money market instruments and short-dated sovereign debt.
The ETF will primarily seek to earn alpha through the implementation of multiple carry trades, which are strategies that seek to capitalise on the interest rate differential between various currencies. It is typically administered by selling short a low yielding currency and using the proceeds to invest in higher yielding currencies, thereby earning a positive interest rate differential.
FTFX applies two risk premia - value and momentum - to the carry trade in currency markets. It goes long on undervalued currencies and higher-yielding currencies, and goes short on overvalued, lower-yielding currencies. It also seeks exposure to currencies displaying positive momentum and avoids negative momentum currencies.