Frankfurt-based independent index provider Solactive AG has launched the Solactive 1-3 month US T-Bill Index, a US dollar-denominated index which includes US government-issued Treasury bills that have a time to maturity of between one and three months and an outstanding of at least US$250m.

The index currently has nine components and uses forward contracts as a currency hedge.

“The Solactive 1-3 month US T-Bill Index is a great tool to follow the US government bond market in a context of expected rising interest rates as announced by the Fed recently,” said Astrid Ludwig, head of the bond and complex team at Solactive.

Generally, US T-Bills are short-term debt obligations issued by the government which have maturities of up to one year. They are considered very safe because their repayment is backed by the full faith and creditworthiness of the US government.

According to the SRP database, the Solactive Global Silver Miners Index has been the most popular index from Solactive, used 13 times within a basket of indexes for global structured products issued by Leonteq Securities, EFG Financial Products and RBC Capital Markets.

SRP data base shows 164 structures linked to treasury underlyings in the US, of which 96 products are still live. The main providers of these products are Barclays (38 structured notes), JPMorgan (35 structured notes) and Morgan Stanley (13 structured notes).

Solactive said that the index has been licensed to be the underlying for the FinEx Cash Equivalents UCITS ETF, the very first money market ETF in Russia. The dual-listed ETF has been exchange-listed in Dublin and will now also trade in Moscow. FinEx Capital Management is the ETF sponsor.

According to Solactive, the new index will allow Russian investors who invest in roubles to access the broader capital markets and invest cash in a safe place. For non-rouble investors, “this product is the first European ETF to offer a pure play on the Russian rouble,” said Martin Bednall, Director of ETFs at FinEx.

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