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The Retail Distribution Review has aided the recent rapid growth in ETF usage in the UK says Hector McNeil (pictured), Co-CEO, WisdomTree Europe. "Increasingly with the move to fee-based models, the alignment of the wealth adviser and investors is more apparent," he says. "It's now a much more symbiotic structure and basically the structure that they have in the US, where ETFs have taken off." ETFs are cost effective, transparent and liquid, McNeil says, allowing a blend in asset allocation of active and passive funds. "The majority of products are Delta one using either asset allocation or a core satellite
In terms of ETF assets under management, Lyxor Asset Management is in the top three in Europe, with USD54 billion in assets in ETFs, behind iShares and Deutsche Bank. Arnaud Llinas (pictured), Head of ETFs and Indexing at Lyxor Asset Management says: "We are one of the major players in this industry in Europe , and the second largest issuer of ETFs in Europe in terms of inflows year to date." The firm first launched ETFs in Europe in 2001. "What we have particularly focused on since our creation is innovation. We try to be at the forefront of innovation,
By Nitesh Shah (pictured), ETF Securities – The commodity cycle is turning. Excess supply is being cut back across a broad range of commodities. While it will take time to reduce surplus stock, the trend is now set in the right direction. Sentiment however, remains stubbornly negative as multiple years of poor performance has jaded investors. We assert that if sentiment starts to realign with fundamentals there maybe scope for strong price gains. Exchange traded products (ETPs) allow investors to capitalise on such investment themes. There are plenty of examples within the commodities space where sentiment and fundamentals are currently
By Fannie Wurtz, Amundi – The development of Smart Beta solutions has become a major field of innovation in the ETF industry: the wide range of both mono and multi-strategy ETFs allows investors to benefit from a broad choice of tools to meet different investment needs and weather changing market conditions. In the case of ETFs which track Buyback indices, investors may be able to access significant yield through a return-oriented filter to the underlying investment universe. Furthermore, stock selection can be improved with an equal-weighting scheme applied by the index provider to ensure unbiased exposure to the underlying theme.
Swiss bank UBS, headquartered in Zurich has been offering ETFs for some time across continental Europe but it was only in the last few years that they entered the UK market from which point their business has been gaining strong momentum ever since.  Andrew Walsh (pictured), head of UBS ETFs sales in the UK, explains that the long history of active fund use in the UK had held back the demand for ETFs for a number of years, but since 2013 usage has continued to increase at a steady pace. "Increasingly, wealth managers and independent financial advisers are using ETFs
There are convincing signs, including the recent 18-year high of the Nikkei share index, that Abenomics is reinvigorating the world's third largest economy. The Japanese ETF industry too has enjoyed tremendous growth under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic reforms and now some leading Japanese ETF providers are courting Western investors.  Nikko Asset Management, one of the pioneers of the ETF business in Japan, launched their first ETF back in 2001. Tokyo-based Koei Imai (pictured), head of the firm's ETF Centre, explains that the Japanese ETF market underwent significant deregulation in 2007 in an effort to encourage greater product innovation. Nikko
Boutique asset managers favour ETFs was one of the findings of a recent survey conducted by research firm TABB Group for software company SunGard. Some 48 per cent saw ETFs as an area of significant demand from investors, with many boutique managers using ETFs as a low cost way of investing in an asset class and bolstering performance through stock picking and direct investment. Commenting on the research, Trevor Headley, head of product management of SunGard's boutique asset management business, says that ETFs are increasingly being used as by this group as an efficient base for focused portfolio construction. Wealth
Finvex Group, the Brussels based independent financial consulting boutique, has acquired 100 per cent of LuxHedge, the Luxembourg-based alternative UCITS funds data provider. Finvex Group specialises in risk based investment solutions. The company advises institutional investors on optimal portfolio construction and balanced investing, using its advanced proprietary risk technology and framework. Finvex Group also owns a successful range of sustainable index solutions that are used for public and private offers throughout Europe and Asia.   LuxHedge is a Luxembourg data provider on funds that offer an easy access to alternative investment strategies within a UCITS framework. Today, there are more
TPG Software, the portfolio accounting, performance management, and analytics software provider, has added S&P Capital IQ’s enterprise data solutions to its client service offering. S&P Capital IQ’s data includes Global Fixed Income Terms & Conditions, Evaluated Pricing and credit ratings from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. TPG clients will be able to integrate S&P Capital IQ’s content to analyse their portfolio holdings for performance evaluation, accounting, compliance, and reporting purposes. According to Slavek Rotkiewicz (pictured), President and Chief Technology Officer of TPG Software: “Adding a world-class data source to TPG will enhance quality and quantity of available reports, especially in
Swedish advisory and capital introduction company OE Capital is expanding its business with the appointment of Johan Strömberg (pictured) as Head of Sales.  Strömberg will also become partner & board member in OE Capital when regulatory approval is granted.  Strömberg previously held senior roles at KKR, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (Head of Nordic Sales), Brummer & Partners (Head of Institutional Sales) & Nordea Investment Management (Head of Institutional Clients). Oscarsson & Engman Capital AB (OE Capital) is an independent Nordic advisory and capital introduction firm with a focus on Alternative Investments, located in Stockholm. The company is supervised by the Swedish

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