ETFS identified that the current ETF issuance model by single financial institutions could be strengthened by diversifying index replication across a consortium of major financial players and concentrating liquidity within a single platform issued by an independent ETF issuer.
Dixit Joshi, head of equities in EMEA and Asia Pacific at Barclays Capital, said: “ETFs are an increasingly important part of an investors portfolio and we look forward to working with ETF Securities to offer our clients liquidity across the full range of ETF products as part of our European Equities platform.”
Mark Weeks, CEO of ETF Exchange, said: “This is an important milestone in the development of ETF Exchange. Working with Barclays Capital and the other three banks will provide investors with an unparalleled quality of service, across an innovative range of products. The ETFX platform is truly market-changing. We believe the evolution of ETFX will make redundant the current single bank issuance models.”
ETFX offers a total of 21 equity ETFs concentrating on resource-equity, double leveraged (2x) and double short (-2x) ETFs. These ETFs are listed across 5 European exchanges (the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Borse, NYSE-Euronext Amsterdam, the Borsa Italiana and the Irish Stock Exchange) and traded in up to 3 currencies (USD, EUR and GBP).
They are part of the ETF Exchange initiative driven by client demand for increased liquidity, reduced credit risks and counter-party exposure. The ETFs are all swap-backed ETFs using multiple counter parties, allowing more efficient tracking, with collateral being held in excess of UCITS guidelines.
ETFS is a provider of exchange traded commodities, currencies (Currency ETCs) and 3rd generation ETFs. ETFS exchange traded products (ETPs) provide investors with investment strategies, with ETPs offering exposure to resource equities, physical, long, forward, leveraged and short exposure to all commodity sectors and G10 currencies.
