BATS Chi-X Europe has extended interoperable clearing to include exchange-traded funds. Starting next week, trading participants will be able to select one of three central counterparties to clear their trades executed on BATS’ order books. The change will allow participants to net their ETF/ETP trades executed on BATS with their trades that are executed on other venues. Guy Simpkin, Head of Business Development at BATS, said: “As the original architects of the interoperable clearing model, we are encouraged that regulators have realised its huge potential in reducing cost and increasing market efficiency in the European ETF and ETP market, which equates to meaningful reform and is long overdue.”

Calamos Investments, an Illinois-headquartered investment manager, has unveiled the Calamos Focused Growth ETF (CFGE), an actively managed exchange-traded fund. The ETF, which has been listed on Nasdaq, features a portfolio consisting of US blue-chip stocks in which Calamos has the greatest confidence of sustained growth. John Calamos, Sr, CEO and Global Co-CIO of Calamos Investments, said: “Our decision to offer an active equity ETF – particularly at this early juncture in the market’s development – is right in line with our history of anticipating the needs of investors and offering innovative solutions to satisfy those needs. We believe actively managed ETFs represent an investment option whose time has come.”

New analysis has revealed that investor interest for exchange-traded products (ETPs) in Europe has taken a dramatic upswing in the first half of 2014. According to preliminary data calculated by Morningstar, the European ETP market received €22.9 billion in net inflows in H1 2014. This more than doubles the total net inflows for the whole of 2013 and stands just €4.3 billion shy of that for the whole of 2012. Jose Garcia-Zarate, senior ETF analyst at Morningstar, said: “Should this trend continue apace in the second half of 2014, the European ETP market would be firmly on course to register net inflows on a par with those seen in the 2008-2010 period, and—capital appreciation permitting—a marked jump in total assets under management.”

Fidelity Investments, a leading global asset manager, has announced that its 10 passively managed US equity sector exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have surpassed $1 billion in assets under management. A significant portion of the asset growth has occurred in the past three months with individuals and advisors investing more than $500 million in the ETFs. In addition, six of the 10 ETFs have each accumulated more than $100 million in assets, including the largest, the Fidelity MSCI Health Care Index ETF (FHLC), at $172 million.

Barclays has rolled out an exchange-traded note designed to provide investors with exposure to US companies with gender-diverse executive leadership. Listed on the NYSE Arca, the Barclays Women in Leadership ETN (WIL) is linked to the Barclays Women in Leadership Total Return Index, an index tracking the performance of US-based listed companies that have a female CEO and/or at least 25% female members on the board. Barbara Byrne, Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at Barclays, said: “Women are significantly underrepresented in corporate executive leadership, yet a growing body of third-party research suggests that gender-diverse leadership may correlate with relatively stronger corporate performance”.

Source, one of Europe’s leading providers of exchange-traded products, has listed 16 of its most popular exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded commodities on the London Stock Exchange. The new share listings will provide UK investors the opportunity to gain exposure to a wide variety of international investments denominated in pound sterling. Michael John Lytle, Chief Development Officer, Source, commented: “The new GBP share listings broaden the choice for UK investors, while being able to trade them on the LSE provides access to the most liquid and most actively traded exchange for ETPs in Europe.”

Data from ETFGI, a London-based consultancy, shows that ETFs and ETPs listed in Europe gathered $5.76 billion in net new assets in June and $32.1 billion year to date, which outpaces the previous high of $20.5 billion at this point in 2011. Net flows combined with positive market performance during H1 2014 pushed assets in the European ETF/ETP industry to a new record high of $470 billion invested in 2,059 ETFs/ETPs, with 6,227 listings, from 50 providers listed on 25 exchanges.

Exchange-traded funds listed globally enjoyed another strong month in June, gathering $34.8 billion in net new assets, according to preliminary data from industry consultants ETFGI. Year to date the figure, which includes exchange-traded products, is $126.6 billion, outpacing the previous high of $106.4 billion at this point set in 2012. Combined with positive market performance, net flows pushed assets in the global ETF/ETP industry to a new record high of $2.64 trillion invested across 5,359 ETFs/ETPs, with 10,401 listings, from 219 providers listed on 59 exchanges.

Vanguard has announced the launch of five new exchange-traded funds on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The three equity ETFs and two bond ETFs bring to 21 the number of Canada-domiciled ETFs offered by the firm. Four of the funds offer first-of-a-kind market exposures among Canada-listed ETFs. Commenting on the launch, Atul Tiwari, managing director of Vanguard Investments Canada, said: “Our new broad market global and international index ETFs will better enable individual investors, financial advisors and institutions to obtain broader diversification and lower risk to their overall portfolios.”

London-based exchange-traded fund provider Source and investment bank Morgan Stanley have teamed to launch the Source Morgan Stanley Europe MEMO Plus UCITS ETF (EMSE), an ETF which aims to outperform the broad European equity market by exploiting one of the most persistent patterns in equity markets – the so-called “month-end effect”. Listed on the Deutsche Börse, the strategy combines continuous exposure to European equities with additional exposure, of 2x leverage, around month-end. In simulations over the past 13 years, the strategy has outperformed the MSCI Europe Index by an average 6.0% per annum.