Commerzbank, the German bank behind the ComStage line-up of ETFs, has launched a new fund on Deutsche Börse’s Xetra and Frankfurt exchanges, offering exposure to the STOXX Europe 600 Index.

ComStage 1 ETFs provide exposure to indices most favoured by German investors.

The fund – the ComStage 1 STOXX Europe 600 UCITS ETF (E960 GY) – is part of Commerzbank’s ComStage 1 range of ETFs, a suite of funds tracking the most favoured indices of German investors.

ComStage 1 ETFs are physically replicating and distribute income once per year. Securities lending is completely excluded.

The ETF tracks the most liquid, large, mid and small-cap companies in European developed countries. These include euro-area countries such as France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy, as well as the UK, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries.

The underlying index is designed to act as an investable benchmark for the entire European developed market region, and constituents are weighted by free-float market capitalization.

The UK represents the largest country exposure within the index, accounting for roughly a quarter of the total index capitalization. France, Switzerland and Germany follow with approximately a 15% allocation each. Financials is the largest sector exposure (19.7%), followed by healthcare (12.2%), industrials (11.8%), and consumer staples (8.4%).

The ETF has a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.19%.

The largest ETF in Europe to track the STOXX Europe 600 is the iShares STOXX Europe 600 UCITS ETF (SXXPIEX GY) with €7.5 billion assets under management. It costs slightly more than the Comstage product at a TER of 0.20%. Lyxor offers the cheapest access to the index’s exposure as the Lyxor STOXX Europe 600 UCITS ETF (LYP6 GY) costs just 0.07%. Its AUM is €920 million.

Others ETFs in the ComStage 1 suite includes funds offering exposure to the following indices: Euro STOXX 50, DAX, the dividend-payer DivDAX, the tech-based TecDAX, the mid-cap MDAX, and the small-cap SDAX.

Commerzbank also offers a range of sector-specific ETFs derived from the parent STOXX Europe 600 Index. There are 19 funds within this suite, each of which charges a TER of 0.25%.