Nomura, a leading Japanese bank and asset manager, has launched four exchange-traded funds on the SIX Swiss Exchange, becoming the first Asian issuer to list on the exchange.
The four ETFs provide currency-hedged exposure to two of Japan’s foremost equity indices, the smart beta JPX-Nikkei 400 and the widely-followed Nikkei 225.
Offered in EUR-hedged and USD-hedged formats, the ETFs allow investors to gain exposure to Japanese equities, while reducing the impact on their portfolios of potential yen depreciation against those currencies.
The JPX-Nikkei 400 Index is a broad-based benchmark composed of large- and mid-sized Japanese equities which selects companies based on quantitative and qualitative metrics of quality such as return on equity, cumulative operating profit and corporate governance.
The Nikkei 225 Index, often referred to as the Japanese equivalent of the Dow Jones Industrial Average due to its construction methodology, is price weighted and follows the top 225 blue-chip companies with high liquidity listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Nomura Asset Management (NAM) and Nomura Alternative Investment Management Europe (NAIM) will manage the ETFs. NAM is one of the largest asset management companies in Japan, with assets under management in excess of US$300bn, as of 31 December 2015. NAIM is a London-based quantitative investment manager of the Nomura group.
Commenting on the launch, Shin Asano, President and CEO of Nomura Bank (Switzerland), said: “Nomura is focused on connecting markets east and west. Today we are very proud to be the first Asian issuer to list ETFs on the SIX Swiss Exchange, and to demonstrate our commitment to developing our local presence in the Swiss market.”
Jean-Philippe Royer, CEO of Nomura Alternative Investment Management (Europe), added: “Nomura is the biggest Japanese equities ETF manager, but until today very few investors in Switzerland could invest in our ETFs. Through the listing on SIX Swiss Exchange, we can now provide the broader Swiss investor community with local access to Nomura’s best-in-class products.”
The ETFs linked to the JPX-Nikkei 400 have net expense ratios of 0.30%, while the ETFs linked to the Nikkei-225 have net expense ratios of 0.60%.
The funds, part of Nomura’s NEXT FUNDS range of ETFs, are not new to the European market, having previously launched on the London Stock Exchange in 2015.
Alain Picard, Head of Product Management at SIX Swiss Exchange, said: “We welcome Nomura as a new ETF issuer at SIX Swiss Exchange. We look forward to offering investors even easier access to Asian markets in combination with the advantages of on exchange trading.”
The ETFs and their ticker codes are:
– Nomura JPX-Nikkei 400 Daily EUR-Hedged Index UCITS ETF (NJXE)
– Nomura JPX-Nikkei 400 Daily USD-Hedged Index UCITS ETF (NJXU)
– Nomura Nikkei 225 USD-Hedged UCITS ETF (NXKU)
– Nomura Nikkei 225 EUR-Hedged UCITS ETF (NXKE)