Clearstream, a subsidiary of the Deutsche Börse Group, has introduced exchange-traded funds (ETFs) onto its Vestima fund processing platform.
Philippe Seyll, Member of the Executive Board of Clearstream and Head of Investment Funds Services.
ETFs will be available on the platform at end-of-day net asset value (NAV), meaning investors will be able to directly buy and sell shares in ETFs in the same way as for a mutual fund.
The newly launched Pimco Covered Bond Source UCITS ETF (COVR), a collaboration between bond giant Pimco and European ETP specialist Source, is the first ETF to be made available on Vestima. The actively managed fund provides exposure to a portfolio of covered bonds.
Howard Chan, Vice President and Product Manager for Pimco’s ETF products in EMEA, commented: “ETFs are generally recognised as a highly attractive instrument for both retail and institutional investors. The availability on Vestima extends access to this ETF to a larger and new group of investors. Vestima reduces the execution complexities for those investors who utilize both ETFs and mutual funds in their investment portfolios.”
Philippe Seyll, Member of the Executive Board of Clearstream and Head of Investment Funds Services, added: “We are pleased to introduce the first actively managed covered bond ETF, managed by Pimco, onto our Vestima platform, which currently gives access to more than 125,000 mutual funds. Our objective is to provide investors with a standardised process for all their fund transactions – from mutual funds to ETFs and hedge funds – by using the same platform.”
Clearstream is currently working with the broader community of ETF promoters to enable direct access to a broader range of ETFs, thereby replicating the model of the Pimco Source ETF launch.
The improved access to ETFs on Vestima is part of Clearstream’s wider efficiency agenda for ETF issuance and processing. The recent announcement of the collaboration with Capita Asset Services to make cross-border transactions for Irish ETFs more secure and streamlined in the German market constituted another key milestone.