Lyxor has reorganised its ETF and indexing activities, creating a new unit dedicated to “ETF & Indexing” investment solutions. This unit is to be led directly by Alain Dubois, Lyxor chairman. According to the company, the aim of bringing together these two activities is to enhance Lyxor’s development in the ETF market, while merging its ETF business with its non-listed indexing business. The move reflects a “very deep trend” among international clients willing to invest in a wide range of ETFs and indexing products.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has continued the expansion of its European SPDR ETF range with the launch of the SPDR Citi Asia Local Government Bond ETF, an Asia-focused bond fund with a strong emerging markets bias. The fund, which has been listed on the Deutsche Börse (Xetra) and the London Stock Exchange, is designed to reflect the performance of the local currency government debt markets of various Asian countries.

Thomson Reuters, a global financial information provider, and Global Property Research, a Netherlands-based specialist in real estate indices, have teamed up to launch a series of liquid property indices designed for ETF adoption. Created specifically to be tracked by ETFs looking to offer investors exposure to real estate markets globally, the Thomson Reuters/Global Property Research (TR/GPR) indices aim to provide a more investable and tradable solution than currently available elsewhere.

The liquidity and marketability of ETFs are still widely misunderstood by professional and individual investors, said Erik Liik, president and CEO of FocusShares, in a statement. Liik points to a survey conducted for Cerulli Associates which found that nearly 70% of ETF sponsors said misunderstandings about liquidity and trading volume hindered potential sales. The Cerulli report notes that investors are “falsely weary” that the association between volume and liquidity “will hinder their ability to move large positions in and out of funds with low volume.”

Reflecting a pattern seen in other developed markets, the Australian ETF industry continued to grow during April as funds under management reached AUD$5.45 billion, just short of a record high, according to BetaShares’ Australian ETF Review for April. A continuing trend in ETFs, and one in evidence in April, has been the gradual shift between competing products as investors conduct their due diligence and look for similar beta exposures at lower costs.

Delta One Data, a provider of ETF and index data, has announced the launch of two new reference data modules for its SOLA index and ETF aggregation platform. The two new modules, which are being rolled out to current clients and will go live this month, consist of a collation and cross reference of all exchange-traded products across European and Asian markets and a module of global exchange holidays, settlement dates and trading hours combined into a single database.

France-based ETF provider Amundi has announced that the Amundi ETF S&P 500 EUR Hedged Daily (H1D5) has been cross-listed on the Deutsche Börse, supplementing the fund’s existing listing on NYSE Euronext Paris. The fund enables investors to participate in the performance of the S&P 500 Total Return Net Index, a widely-tracked index of ‘blue chip’ US stocks, with hedging against daily exchange rate fluctuations between the euro and the US dollar. The ETF provides a packaged solution for investors who do not have the capacity to manage currency risk themselves.

Despite the devastating floods that hit Thailand in 2011, forcing a freeze in automotive and computer chip manufacturing critical to the global supply chain, the country’s GDP is expected to reach 6% this year, according to the Bank of Thailand. In fact, the latest Bloomberg Emerging Markets report ranked Thailand second only to China as one of the most-promising emerging and frontier markets for investors. Thailand was also ranked as the easiest place to do business of all top 15 emerging markets in the study.

Earlier this week, Swedbank Robur, one of Scandinavia’s largest mutual fund managers and a wholly owned subsidiary of Swedbank, made its debut in the ETF space with the launch of three ETFs on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. The three Swedbank Robur ETFs are based on the OMXS30 (OMX Stockholm 30) index, an important Scandinavian index comprising the 30 most actively traded companies on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm.

iShares has announced the launch of eight London-listed single-country bond ETFs that provide precise and targeted exposure to the sovereign debt of eight of the larger eurozone countries. The launch reflects growing interest in fixed income ETFs generally, as well increased demand for more granular exposures within the asset class. With eight different single-country funds, the suite enables investors to build precise asset allocations across the main eurozone government bond markets.