In this week’s roundup, we also look at the partnership between BITA and Ultumus, the first actively managed ETF launched by Nomura; the revised clearing rules on OTC derivatives in HK; and the listing of Vietnam-focused ETF in Singapore.
King & Shaxson Capital Markets (KSCM), the Spanish subsidiary of UK specialist investment firm King & Shaxson, has announced the first structured product programme listing on its KSCM Euro List multilateral trading facility (MTF), Dowgate.
BBVA Global Markets is the first issuer of structured products to utilise this service, listing its €2bn Structured Medium Term Note (SMTN) Programme on the platform.
‘Our commitment to BBVA and the rest of the European issuing community has helped us to design a service closely aligned with their operational and technological needs within the Mifid 2 regulatory framework; it gives us great satisfaction to be able to support them in maximizing the effectiveness of their products and their objectives,’ said Pablo Yravedra, CEO of KSCM.
KSCM developed its MTF to allow the fast and efficient upload and listing of European issues to the venue in response to domestic Spanish demand for a low-cost listing alternative. The MTF went live in Spain in the Summer of 2022 with its KSCM EURO LIST platform for fixed income bonds
KSCM is the Spanish subsidiary of the British fixed income brokerage and ESG asset manager, King & Shaxson Limited, in turn part of the Singaporean financial services group, PhillipCapital, which employs more than 6,000 people worldwide.
Established in Madrid in 2019, KSCM operates as an interbank MTF for European government bonds and inflation products, under the trade name Dowgate MTF, as well as credit bonds for a range of financial institutions.
BITA adds custom index and basket calculation solution
Index technology company BITA and Ultumus, a provider of ETF and index composition data, have partnered to launch a solution that manages and calculates custom indices and baskets.
The automated solution will leverage the technology of the two parties to enable a one-stop shop in areas such as custom basket and index setup, backtesting, BMR administration and post-trade integration.
The partnership was created in response to increasing demand for flexible ways to manage indices, thematic and ESG baskets and any corporate action-impacted portfolios.
‘Beyond the traditional index and basket calculation workflow, our solution leverages the BITACore index customisation infrastructure to develop indexes on the fly, customise parameters and backtest changes, flowing into their databases and systems via Ultumus’ data management platform,’ said Victor Hugo Gomez (right), CEO of BITA.
‘We have built the global infrastructure to handle the whole lifecycle of index data management and accommodate demands for customisation,’ said Bernie Thurston, CEO of Ultumus,
Nomura roll outs first actively managed ETFs in Japan
Nomura Asset Management has received an approval from the Tokyo Stock Exchange to list the first two actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The two ETFs – the Next Funds Japan Growth Equity Active Exchange Traded Fund and the Next Funds Japan High Dividend Equity Active Exchange Traded Fund – will go listed on 7 September, according to the company’s press release.
The introduction of actively managed ETFs will ‘provide investors with more investment options at a time when the Nippon individual savings account (NISA) scheme is scheduled to be expanded and perpetuated, and the trend from savings to asset formation is accelerating,’ stated the asset manager led by president and CEO Hiroyasu Koike (pictured).
In the statement, Nomura stated that the number of actively managed ETFs outside Japan has already increased to 2,075 with assets under management of approximately US$583 billion cited data from ETFGI. ‘Similar growth is expected in Japan,’ stated Nomura.
The Japan Growth Active ETF evaluates a company’s business model, management strategy, and financial strategy based on research and analysis of individual companies, while the Japan High Dividend Active ETF aims to achieve medium-to-long term total returns by capturing stable dividends, income gains and flexible gains in stock prices or capital gains.
The minimum investment amount for both ETFs is JPY2,000 per unit.
HK regulators release revised OTC derivative clearing rules
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) have drawn the consultation conclusions of the proposed amendments to the clearing rules for over-the-counter (OTC) derivative transactions.
According to a joint press release, the proposed amendments – comprising repealing the current requirement to clear certain interest rate swap transactions referencing interbank offered rates (IBORs) to be in line with global interest rate benchmark reforms and transit to alternative reference rates (ARRs) – has received general support and will be submitted to the Legislative Council for negative vetting.
Under the proposal, certain interest rate swap transactions referencing ARRs would be subject to the clearing obligation under specified conditions.
The amended clearing rules are expected to come into effect as early as 1 July 2024, subject to the legislative process.
CGS-CIMB Securities launches Vietnam-focused ETF on SGX
CGS-CIMB Securities has launched a Vietnam-focused ETF on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) with Fullgoal Asset Management (HK) as the investment adviser.
The ETF, with assets under management (AUM) of SG$35m (US$25.9m) at launch, references the iEdge Vietnam 30 Sector Cap Index developed by SGX Index Edge as part of its suite of thematic index solutions, which tracks the performance of the top 30 companies by market capitalisation listed on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange. It’s available in US dollars and Singapore dollars.
‘Vietnam stands as a beacon of growth and opportunity and offers investors promising returns with its equity market capitalisation expanding by almost six times in size over the last decade,’ said Michael Syn (pictured), senior managing director and head of equities of SGX Group.
‘This ETF listing marks the first Singapore-domiciled Vietnam ETF on SGX and is an exciting new addition to our ASEAN product shelf,’ Syn said.