The ETF/ETP industry in Europe had an impressive start to the year, gathering $14.9bn in net new assets in January 2015, according to industry consultancy ETFGI. This is the largest amount of net inflows gathered in a month, surpassing the prior record of $10.8bn in net inflows set in July 2014. Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $9.0bn, followed by fixed income ETFs/ETPs with $5.2bn and commodity ETFs/ETPs with $760m. iShares gathered the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in January with $6.5bn, followed by UBS with $2.3bn, DeutscheAWM with $1.5bn, Lyxor with $1.3bn and ETF Securities with $825m in net inflows.

UBS Global Asset Management has broadened its range of fixed income exchange-traded funds with the listing on the London Stock Exchange of three ETFs providing medium-duration exposure to US investment-grade corporate bonds. The funds are linked to the Barclays US Liquid Corporates 1-5 Year Index, an index measuring the performance corporate bonds with a maturity of between one and five years issued in US dollars by financial and non-financial companies based in the USA. The funds include a GBP-hedged version, a USD trading version and GBP trading version.

UBS Global Asset Management has unveiled its sixth socially responsible exchange-traded fund. The fund, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange, is linked to the MSCI UK IMI Extended SRI Index and provides exposure to UK companies with outstanding sustainability credentials. Andrew Walsh, Head of UBS ETF Sales UK & Ireland, said: “With this UK market-focused SRI listing, we continue in our commitment to offering ETFs which enable investors to access those companies which meet rigorous environmental, social and corporate governance standards in an easy to access structure.”

UBS Global Asset Management has announced the listing of four exchange-traded funds on the London Stock Exchange. The new ETFs track the Dow Jones Global Select Dividend, MSCI Emerging Markets SRI and MSCI USA (with listings in both USD and GBp) indices. The UBS DJ Global Select Dividend UCITS ETF (UC75) offers exposure to the top dividend paying companies globally; the UBS MSCI Emerging Markets Socially Responsible UCITS ETF (UC79) provides exposure to large and mid-cap emerging market companies with strong sustainability profiles; while the UBS MSCI USA UCITS ETFs provide exposure to large and mid-cap US equities.

SIX Swiss Exchange has become the first stock exchange in Europe to offer Singapore dollar (SGD) as a listing and trading currency for exchange-traded funds. ETF providers active on the exchange now have the option to list their products in the Singaporean currency, in addition to the Swiss franc, euro, US dollar, pound sterling, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar and Australian dollar. Alain Picard, Head Product Management at SIX Swiss Exchange, said: “SIX Swiss Exchange is the first stock exchange in Europe to offer SGD as listing and trading currency for ETFs. By continuously extending our selection of currencies, we allow issuers to make their products more attractive to investors”.

UBS Global Asset Management, a leading European provider of exchange-traded funds, has listed two new ETFs on the London Stock Exchange: the UBS MSCI Europe ex-UK UCITS ETF (UC77) and the UBS FTSE 250 UCITS ETF (UC78). Commenting on the launch, Andrew Walsh, Head of UBS ETF Sales UK & Ireland, said: “The new ETFs broaden our extensive product range and continue our aim of responding to our clients’ needs by delivering focused ETF solutions at very competitive prices.”

ETF Securities, the exchange-traded products provider and commodities specialist, has entered the competitive world of financial market indexing with the launch of ETFS Indices. Led by Dan Raab, the unit will design and publish liquid and replicable futures-based indices. ETFS Indices’ debut line-up includes two enhanced commodity long-only indices and two commodity long/short indices. The indices are formulated with a goal of having low correlations to traditional asset classes while providing relatively strong reward vs. risk ratios.

ETFs listed in Europe received net inflows of $5.4bn in January 2014, according to ETFGI, a London-based consultancy. The pattern for net flows in January was very different for ETFs listed in the United States, which suffered net outflows of $15.47bn with equity products having the largest net outflows of $15.9bn. Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at ETFGI, said: “The buying patterns of European based investors indicates that they are more confident about developed markets including the US than investors based in the US in January 2014.”

UBS Global Asset Management has announced the listing of four new GBP-hedged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the London Stock Exchange. The ETFs track the MSCI Australia and MSCI USA indices and are available in both distributing and accumulating share classes. They are the first of their kind to be listed on the LSE. The new additions build on UBS’s existing GBP-hedged ETF lineup, which allows investors to gain exposure to a range of international markets whilst mitigating their currency risks against the British pound.

UBS Global Asset Management has licensed 27 currency hedged equity indices from MSCI for the launch of a new series of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to be rolled out in Europe. Thomas Merz, Head of UBS ETFs Europe, commented: “By basing our physically replicated ETFs on a range of MSCI Hedged Indices, we are able to offer our clients a way to reduce currency risk and optimize portfolio returns in a transparent and cost-efficient way.”