The number of ETFs and ETPs listed on London Stock Exchange (LSE) rose significantly in March, with 27 new ETFs and 76 ETPs added during the month. The high activity brings the combined number of new ETF/ETP listings for 2018 to 129.
Societe Generale is responsible for the 76 new ETP listings, which offer a wide range of short and leveraged exposures across commodities, equities and currencies.
VanEck launched two fixed income ETFs: the VanEck Vectors Global Fallen Angel High Yield Bond UCITS ETF (GFA LN) and the VanEck Vectors Emerging Markets High Yield Bond UCITS ETF (HYEM LN).
GFA plays on potential temporary mis-valuations as a result of credit rating downgrades. It tracks the ICE BofAML Global Fallen Angel High Yield Index, which measures the performance of fallen angel bonds denominated in US dollars, pounds sterling, euros, or Canadian dollars from developed market issuers. The fund has a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.40%.
HYEM grants investors access to high-yield corporate bonds from emerging market issuers. It tracks the ICE BofAML Diversified High Yield US Emerging Markets Corporate Plus Index, which is composed of fixed coupon issues denominated in US dollars with a remaining term to maturity of at least 12 months and an issue size of at least $300m. Like GFA, the fund has a TER of 0.40%.
Deutsche Asset Management (now part of DWS Group) launched the Xtrackers iBoxx USD Corporate Bond Yield Plus UCITS ETF (XLYD LN). The fund tracks the Markit iBoxx USD Corporates 1-20 Yield Plus Index, providing exposure to higher yielding, mostly investment-grade, corporate bonds denominated in US dollars. It has a TER of 0.25%.
BlackRock racked up the following 16 new share class listings across a multitude of asset classes, including government bonds, corporate bonds, equities, and real estate:
iShares USD TIPS UCITS ETF (ITPG LN)
iShares USD TIPS UCITS ETF (ITPE LN)
iShares USD TIPS 0-5 UCITS ETF (TI5G LN)
iShares Developed Markets Property Yield UCITS ETF (DPYG LN)
iShares Developed Markets Property Yield UCITS ETF (DPYE LN)
iShares USD High Yield Corp Bond UCITS ETF (IHYE LN)
iShares Nasdaq US Biotechnology UCITS ETF (BTEE LN)
iShares Core MSCI EM IMI UCITS ETF (EIMU LN)
iShares USD Corp Bond UCITS ETF (LQGH LN)
iShares Global Corp Bond UCITS ETF (CRHG LN)
iShares USD Floating Rate Bond UCITS ETF (FLOA LN)
iShares USD High Yield Corp Bond UCITS ETF (IHHG LN)
iShares J.P. Morgan USD EM Bond UCITS ETF (EMHG LN)
iShares Core EUR Corp Bond UCITS ETF (IEAH LN)
iShares Global Govt Bond UCITS ETF (IGLH LN)
iShares MSCI World Small Cap UCITS ETF (WSML LN)
Lyxor introduced five ETFs offering exposures to the UK, US, Japan, Asia and global equity markets:
Lyxor Core Morningstar UK NT DR UCITS ETF (LCUK LN)
Lyxor Core Morningstar US DR UCITS ETF (LCUS LN)
Lyxor Core MSCI World DR UCITS ETF (LCWL LN)
Lyxor Core MSCI Japan DR UCITS ETF (LCJP LN)
Lyxor MSCI EM Asia UCITS ETF (LCAL LN)
These ETFs are the cheapest in Europe for their respective sectors with TERs ranging from 0.12% (LCWL, LCAL and LCJP) to as low as 0.04% (LCUK and LCUS).
UBS listed two commodities ETFs and one new fixed income ETF:
UBS ETFs – Bloomberg Commodity CMCI SF UCITS ETF (UD08 LN)
UBS ETFs – Bloomberg Commodity CMCI SF UCITS ETF (UD06 LN)
UBS ETF – JP Morgan USD EM Diversified Bond 1-5 UCITS ETF (UBXX LN)
As of the end of March, there were 1,021 ETFs and 488 ETPs listed on LSE, incorporating 1,480 and 504 trading lines respectively across multi-currency and distributing/accumulating share classes.
Total on-exchange value traded for ETFs and other ETPs in March 2018 was £19.9 billion, down 36% from March 2017, while total on-exchange value traded for ETFs and other ETPs in Q1 was £80.7bn, down 5% compared to the same period in 2017.