Barclays Bank and Pacer Financial have launched a partnership focused on marketing and education for the iPath Gold exchange trade notes (ETNs).
As part of the agreement with Barclays, Pacer will provide marketing, educational and promotional services in connection with the marketing for sale of the ETNs.
Barclays additionally announced the change of the name for the iPath Gold ETNs, which are currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, to Pacer iPath Gold ETNs on 14 September. The ETNs will continue to trade under the same ticker symbol following the name change, which
The partnership combines Pacer’s distribution capabilities across a wide array of investment offerings, with Barclays' brand and position in exchange-traded notes, stated the two firms in a joint announcement.
"Investors have witnessed an incredible performance in gold this year, and investor appetite is strong for products that can offer both exposure to this safe haven asset and minimal fees," said Sean O’Hara (pictured), director at Pacer Financial.
“The commodities asset class continues to offer investors the potential for strategic diversification and tactical investment opportunities,” said Gavin Filmore, head of exchange traded product platforms, at Barclays.
CAT launches Hang Seng Tech tracker
Swiss provider CAT Financial Products AG has launched the first Swiss Stock Exchange listed product linked to the newly created Hang Seng Tech Index.
The brand new Hang Seng Tech Index was launched on 27 July 2020 and tracks the 30 largest technology companies listed in HK. The index consists of Greater China-incorporated stocks that specifically have high business exposure to the internet, fintech, cloud computing, e-commerce and digital technology themes.
Companies must also be “technology-enabled” (i.e. operate primarily on an internet or mobile platform) or have an R&D expenses-to-revenue ratio that is greater than or equal to 5%, or revenue growth that is greater than or equal to 10%.The 30 largest stocks as ranked by market capitalization that meet these criteria are selected to form the index. Constituents are weighted by free-float market capitalization, subject to a cap of 8% on any individual stock.
Major positions currently include well-known Chinese names such as Xiaomi (11.6%), Meituan Dianping (10.3%), Alibaba (9.0%), Tencent (7.8%), Sunny Optical (6.4%), JD.com (5.8%). Other familiar holdings include Lenovo, NetEase, and Ping An Healthcare & Technology.
Companies formally assigned to the Information Technology sector contribute 47.0% of the holdings, followed by Consumer Discretionary with 29.4%, Communication Services with 13.3%, Health Care with 7.8%, and Financials with 2.1%. Currently, there are no options, futures, funds or ETFs approved in Europe.
The Hang Seng Tech Index, which is already now called the "Chinese Nasdaq" is intended to provide competition to the US Index, and open up new opportunities for investors to the "disruptive innovation“ topic from the Chinese region. Subscription is open until 11th September 2020 through CAT Financial Products AG and first trading day on the #SIX anticipated on 21st September 2020.
Europe’s structured products turnover up by 45% YOY
The trading volume of investment and leverage products on reporting European financial markets totalled €37 billion in the second quarter, according to the European Structured Investment Products Association (Eusipa).
Structured products turnover decreased by 25% on a quarter-by-quarter basis but increased by 45% on a year-on-year basis.
Second-quarter turnover in investment products on European trading venues amounted to €9 billion, 24% of the total - this represents a decrease of 50% percent on the previous quarter, and of 21% on the same quarter the previous year.
Turnover in leverage products (warrants, knock-out warrants, and constant leverage certificates) totalled €28 billion in the period from April to June, representing 76% of total turnover. On a year-on-year basis, turnover in leverage products doubled, though it decreased 11% from the previous quarter.
At the end of June, trading venues located in reporting Eusipa markets were offering 475,781 investment products and 1,210,852 leverage products which represents a 10% increase on the previous quarter and a 12% decrease year on year.
Banks issued 1,487,677 new investment and leverage products in the second quarter of 2020, down 15% on the previous quarter, but up 25% year on year. In total, 227,243 new investment products were launched, accounting for 15% of new issuance; the 1,260,434 new leverage products represent 85% of the total.
For Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland, the market volume of investment and leverage products issued as securities stood at €278 billion at the end of the second quarter, two percent higher on a year-on-year basis and 12% up on the previous quarter.
At the end of June, the market volume of investment products stood around €261 billion – an increase of 10% quarter on quarter and a slight decrease of one percent year on year. The outstanding volume of leverage products totalled €17 billion at the end of June which represents a 44% increase on the previous quarter and a significant increase of 85% on a year-on-year basis.
Credit Suisse International joins Swiss Stock Exchange
Credit Suisse International has started trading on Six Swiss Exchange joining a pool of participants and a trading platform with over 46,000 securities, including some of the most traded equities in the structured products market– such as Nestlé, Roche and Novartis, as well as bnds, ETFs, ETPs, sponsored funds and structured products.
At present, 94 participants trade on the exchanges’ order book. As an issuer Credit Suisse International has 15 live products worth an estimated US$638.62m; as a distributor it has 85 live products sold to institutional investors worth an estimated US$470m.
The exchange reported in July unprecedented trading activity in the structured products segment. The average number of trades on Six Swiss Exchange quadrupled on some days in H1 20 to over 9,000 compared to the 2019 average of 2,150 trades a day.
The Swiss exchange acquired 93.16% of the equity share capital of Spanish exchange group BME which has an structured products segment including warrants, inline, bonus, turbos, discount, stay high/stay low, multi (leverage) and other certificates offered by Banco Santander, BBVA, La Caixa, BNP Paribas and Société Générale – the French bank recently transferred to its books Commerzbank’s ETP business.