Latest: UBS rolls out first US-listed 2x leveraged ESG ETN

The bank is targeting US$25m with the new ETracs 2x Leveraged MSCI USA ESG Focus TR ETN which have an investment term of 40 years.

The notes track the performance of the MSCI USA ESG Focus Gross Total Return USD Index which is derived by selecting constituents of its parent index - the MSCI USA Index through an optimisation process that aims to maximize exposure of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors for a target tracking error budget under certain constraints.

The index is sector-diversified and targets companies with high ESG ratings in each sector. Companies involved in tobacco, controversial weapons, fossil fuel extraction and thermal coal power are not eligible for inclusion in the Index. The parent index is a market cap weighted benchmark index that includes large and mid-cap stocks across the US equity markets. The index was first disseminated publicly on 11 August, 2016 and has no live performance history prior to that date.

The Swiss investment bank has also launched two new ETNs linked to the IFED Large-Cap US Equity Index TR.

The ETracs IFED Invest with the Fed TR Index ETN (90278V768) and ETracs 2x Leveraged IFED Invest with the Fed TR Index ETN (90278V750) offer delta one and 2x leverage exposure, respectively, to the performance of the IFED Large-Cap US Equity Index Total Return index.

The index is a composite of large-cap US equities that is designed to maximise exposure to those equities best positioned to benefit from the prevailing monetary environment.

The index uses a combination of Federal Reserve Board policy developments and twelve stock specific metrics to select and weight stocks via a rules-based active strategy. This index was first disseminated publicly on 8 June, 2020 and has no live performance history prior to that date.

Indosuez WM goes with ICE for enhanced portfolio and margin optimisation

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has partnered with of Crédit Agricole group’s Indosuez Wealth Management, to deliver pre-trade analytics and data to enhance its portfolio and margin optimisation of the global wealth management business.

ICE’s derivatives valuation and analytics services are targeted at wealth managers using over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives as part of their portfolios as margin optimisation remains a key priority for managing and extending their investment strategies. The ICE platform offers pricing and analytics solutions for structured products and OTC positions.

Under the agreement, Indosuez’s capital markets sales team will also have access to ICE’s derivatives portfolio analytics application, which allows them to analyse holdings at both a single security and portfolio level, with data and analytics covering multiple asset classes.

ICE’s platform will be integrated into Indosuez’s S2i system, provided by Azqore, and will assist in pre-trade price discovery, decision support tools, risk management and analytics across a wide range of asset classes and instruments.

Horizons adds leverage via Solactive’s Canada play

Canadian ETF provider Horizons ETFs has launched a pair of leveraged and inverse leveraged ETFs -  the BetaPro Equal Weight Canadian REIT 2x Daily Bull ETF (HREU:TSX), and the BetaPro Equal Weight Canadian REIT -2x Daily Bear ETF (HRED:TSX).

The ETFs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) provide leveraged and inverse leveraged, respectively, to the Canadian REIT sector via the Solactive Equal Weight Canada REIT Index corresponding to two times (200%) long and inverse the daily performance of the underlying index, respectively.

The Solactive Equal Weight Canada REIT index tracks the performance of the securities that are classified as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The index is not focused on a specific type of REIT, such as office or residential; rather it provides broad exposure to the Canadian REIT universe.

Potential index constituents can include owners, operators and managers of residential apartment complexes, office, retail, and industrial real estate space. There are minimum market capitalisation and minimum average daily value traded requirements on new and current index components. The index is published in Canadian Dollars (CAD) and is reviewed semi-annually in March and September. 

Equiduct launches trading in ETPs for retail investors in Europe

Equiduct, a pan-European retail exchange, has launched exchange traded funds (ETFs) and exchange traded products (ETPs) trading on Apex – Equiduct’s on-exchange best execution service with zero trading fees for retail brokers.

These 436 products span multiple asset classes and geographies, as well as thematic ETFs and leveraged ETPs from 13 different issuers, such as Lyxor ETF and VanEck. The project will be delivered in two phases: phase one is now live with over 321 ETFs; phase two completing in early 2022 with an extra 215 ETFs.

Wail Azizi, managing director & global head of growth at Equiduct, said the launch is aimed at facilitating access to more than four million retail investors across Europe.

ETFs in Europe are still predominantly traded by institutional investors either via request for quote (RFQ) or over-the-counter (OTC), avoiding the challenges of Best Execution with liquidity fragmented across multiple markets, a key barrier to retail access’, he said.

This launch is supported by Virtu which will act as a global market maker and liquidity provider. 

Swiss AMC platform expands to Singapore with Julius Baer

Vestr, the Swiss Actively Managed Certificates (AMCs) platform is expanding into Singapore after a successful partnership with Bank Julius Baer under the Swiss FinTech incubator, F10.

The Singapore branches of both Vestr and Bank Julius Baer plan to launch their digital platform for AMCs in Singapore to enable the-end-to-end value chain of AMCs to be managed digitally.

Vestr Pte Ltd, the Singapore branch of the company, has been awarded the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Financial Sector Technology and Innovation (FSTI) Proof-of-Concept (POC) grant. The FSTI POC grant provides funding support for experimentation, development and dissemination of nascent innovative technologies in the financial services sector.

Vestr will collaborate with the Singapore entity of Bank Julius Baer in this POC. The POC started in August 2021 and is expected to conclude in the second half of 2022. The POC will focus on assessing the feasibility of digitising the end-to-end value chain of AMCs for the Singapore entity of Bank Julius Baer, addressing the potential regulatory and legal concerns, as well as validating the extend of market demands for AMCs in Singapore and Asia.