Lyxor has listed a further 17 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The bulk listing includes nine funds focused on emerging markets, seven focused on developed markets, and one tracking both. They are all equity based.

Arnaud Llinas, Global Head of ETFs and Indexing at Lyxor.

The nine emerging market funds offer a mix of country-specific and regional exposures.

The country-specific funds provide access to Taiwan, South Korea, South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, while the regional funds provide exposure to markets in Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific.

The developed market funds include products delivering exposure to Europe, via the Euro Stoxx 50 and MSCI Europe indices; to the US, via the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Russell 2000 and Nasdaq-100 indices; and to Japan, via the Topix index.

Lastly, there are two global funds: one focused entirely on developed markets and one tracking both developed and emerging markets. The developed market fund is linked to the innovative, smart beta MSCI World Risk Weighted index, while the all-world fund is linked to the MSCI All Country World index.

With the addition of these funds, there are now 64 Lyxor-sponsored ETFs listed on the LSE, representing approximately 11% of the firm’s total ETF assets under management.

The expansion of the firm’s emerging markets lineup – Lyxor now offers UK investors the choice of 11 individual emerging market countries and four regional emerging market exposures – significantly boosts the choice available to UK investors, and will likely put pressure on rival providers such as db X-trackers, HSBC and iShares who, until now, have absorbed much of the UK-based ETF assets flowing the way of emerging markets.

Lyxor is already ranked number one in Europe for single country emerging market ETFs, with over $3.9 billion in assets under management. It is ranked third overall, with more than $41 billion in assets under management.

The emerging markets funds are all synthetically replicated. This approach, which uses a total return swap to generate the relevant market exposure, is well suited to emerging markets and typically delivers greater efficiency (in terms of reduced tracking error) and lower costs than a physical approach. As a pioneer in this form of index replication since 2001, Lyxor is ideally placed to provide investors with exposure to these difficult-to-access markets.

Commenting on the listings, Arnaud Llinas, Global Head of ETFs and Indexing at Lyxor, said: “This launch offers investors exposure to a broad range of emerging markets via ETFs denominated in USD and GBP. These ETFs have been constructed to meet the requirements our clients have come to expect in line with our Quality Charter, and have been constructed specifically to meet the standards of high liquidity and low tracking error that we seek to maintain across our entire ETF range.”

He added: “For the first time, UK investors can now access the MSCI AC Asia-Pacific Ex Japan, and subsequently increase diversification within their portfolio. There are clearly significant opportunities for investors within the emerging markets space, and as such ETFs offer an extremely compelling means of accessing and benefiting from these growing markets within a straightforward, low-cost framework.”

Lyxor has said that it plans to list further ETFs on the LSE before the end of 2013, as part of its continued commitment to the UK market.