London Stock Exchange (LSE), a major listing destination for exchange-traded funds in Europe, experienced their strongest month for listing activity since 2011; a total of 46 new funds were launched during November. The action during November, which included the introduction of the first ever Indian fixed income ETF as well the arrival of BMO Global Asset Management (BMO) as a European issuer, brings the total amount of listings this year to 152 ETFs and 55 ETPs.
London Stock Exchange experienced the greatest amount of listing activity during November since 2011 with a total of 46 new fund launches.
ZyFin, a Singapore-headquartered asset manager with advisory operations based in India, launched the LAM Sun Global ZyFin India Sovereign Enterprise Bond UCITS ETF (CURY LN), opening up the Indian public sector corporate bond space to European investors. The fund tracks a range of highest quality Indian Sovereign Owned Enterprise bonds (bonds from corporations of national interest and at least 51% owned by the Indian government) operating in industries such as railway transportation, rural electrification, and finance.
BMO, the fund management division of the Canadian-headquartered bank, became the latest international issuer to launch funds on European soil. The firm unveiled four currency-hedged fixed-income ETFs, offering separate exposures to investment grade or high yield corporate bonds, with a global breadth. BMO also introduced five smart beta equity ETFs which use rules-based methodologies to select firms with robust business models and which should generate a sustainable income stream. The funds invest in a selection of continental European, UK and US firms and also offer currency-hedging.
Other launches on the exchange during November were five new offerings from WisdomTree, including the WisdomTree Germany Equity UCITS ETF, the WisdomTree Europe Equity UCITS ETF and the WisdomTree Japan Equity UCITS ETF; 24 new additions from ETF Securities, 18 commodity ETPs offering exposure to natural gas, copper, gold and silver and six short/leveraged currency ETPs tracking euros, pounds and dollars; and five listings from iShares targeting firms within the S&P 500 Index operating in the financials, health care, energy, consumer discretionary and information technology sectors .
The total trading value for ETFs on-exchange during the month amounted to £16.9bn, a rise of 6% compared to last year. There are now 861 ETFs (available as 1,290 lines through multi-currency offerings) and 404 ETCs/ETNs (available as 455 lines) listed on the London Stock Exchange.