Stoxx has further advanced its footprint in Asia-Pacific with the licensing today (July 7) of its Eurostoxx 50 index to ANZ ETFS Management, to be used as the underlying of an upcoming exchange-traded fund (ETF) targeted at Australian retail investors.

ANZ ETFS Management, an ETF-focused joint venture between the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and ETF Securities, is expected to list for trading the tracker fund later this month. It will be the first Australian fund to be pegged to the European equities benchmark.

The new ETF is expected to be popular with both retail and institutional investors, as it 'would offer access to the Eurozone's leading companies' and 'pure Euro exposure through an internationally recognized and deeply liquid European benchmark', according to Kris Walesby (pictured), head of ANZ ETFs.

This is the fourth ETF license handed out by Stoxx in the Apac region this year, and follows last week's agreement with South Korea's Mirae Asset Global Investments to licence the Eurostoxx Select Dividend 30 Index to be used as the underlying for the first European smart beta play in Apac.

"We are also seeing an increased interest in our indices for passive investments and also as underlying indices for structured products," said Shirley Low, head of Asia Pacific at Stoxx, adding that Australian investors have a strong case to consider the Eurozone and to add diversification to their portfolio.

"The Eurostoxx 50 offers superior diversification across supersectors for markets participants when comparing to the S&P/ASX 200 for instance, which has almost 50% allocation concentrated in financials," said Low. "Our recent research has also shown that the Eurostoxx 50 offers a higher real yield of 4.5% vs. the S&P/ASX 200 and offers a low correlation of 0.42 vs. the S&P/ASX 200 index."

Out of 419 live tranche products on the SRP Australia database, 28 feature the Eurostoxx 50, including four products added in 2016.

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