Europe ETP News Older Than 1 year-If your looking for specific news, using the search function will narrow down the results
Regulators wrestle with rapidly expanding ETF industry
April 26, 2018--As the exchange traded fund industry continues its record-breaking growth, are these investment vehicles sufficiently regulated?
The relentless pace of growth seen in the exchange traded fund industry is attracting the attention of both domestic and international regulators. Assets held in ETFs pushed through the $5tn barrier in January and show no signs of slowing.
The rapid expansion of these investment vehicles has left some wondering if the right regulations are in place to police them, particularly as the legislations currently in force were not written with ETFs in mind.
Flow Traders NV Annual General Meeting of Shareholders adopts all proposals
April 26, 2018--Flow Traders N.V. ("Flow Traders") announced today that its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders ("AGM") has adopted all proposals on the agenda of the AGM.
Most important resolutions and announcements are listed below.
Dividend
The Management Board announced the distribution of a dividend for the year 2017 of EUR 0.65 per share. As an interim dividend of EUR 0.30 per share was paid on 9 August 2017, the final dividend will be EUR 0.35 per share. The final dividend will be made payable on 4 May 2018. Ex-dividend date has been set at 30 April 2018.
Appointment of Folkert Joling as CTrO and member of the Management Board The AGM appointed Folkert Joling as Chief Trading Officer (CTrO) and member of the Management Board with effect from 26 April 2018 for a period of four years.
VanEck launches global mining ETF on LSE
April 26, 2018--VanEck Europe has launched the VanEck Vectors Global Mining UCITS ETF (GDIG LN) on the London Stock Exchange, providing access to firms around the world which are operating in the mining industry. The new offering complements the firm's existing portfolio of ETFs which includes funds tracking the global gold mining sector.
"In a diversified portfolio, commodity companies are a valuable component primarily due to their strong fundamentals and inflation-protecting qualities," said Dominik Poiger, ETF portfolio management at VanEck.
Three new iShares ETFs launched on Xetra
April 25, 2018--ETFs offer access to small cap companies, to the automation and robotics industry, as well as to a diversified commodities portfolio
Three new exchange traded funds issued by iShares have been tradable on Xetra and Börse Frankfurt since Wednesday.
The iShares MSCI World Small Cap UCITS ETF gives investors access to lower market-cap MSCI World Index companies from developed markets. For inclusion in the reference index, constituent companies must fulfil MSCI size, liquidity and free float criteria.
The iShares Automation & Robotics UCITS ETF enables investors to participate in the performance of stock corporations that generate substantial earnings from the automation and robotics industry.
Europe's artificial intelligence efforts to receive EU to put EUR 1.5bn EU boost
April 25, 2018--The EU is to boost investment in artificial intelligence by EUR 1.5 bn, the EU Commission announced on Wednesday, as part of a package of measures to boost Europe's competitiveness in the field of AI.
The Commission is proposing a three-pronged approach to increase public and private investment in AI, prepare for socio-economic changes, and ensure an appropriate ethical and legal framework. This follows a call from European leaders' for a European approach on AI.
WisdomTree appoints Christopher Gannatti as Head of Research in Europe
April 25, 2018--WisdomTree reinforces its commitment to quality ETF research
WisdomTree, an exchange-traded fund ("ETF") and exchange-traded product ("ETP") sponsor, is pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher Gannatti as Head of Research for WisdomTree in Europe.
The move comes following WisdomTree's acquisition of ETF Securities' European exchange-traded commodity, currency and short-and-leveraged business. Gannatti moves from WisdomTree's headquarters in New York where he has worked since December 2010.
In his role Gannatti will lead the research team in Europe and ensure that clients receive up-to-date, expert insight into global macroeconomic and asset class specific developments; he will also support the UCITs platform globally.
European Commission: Consumer financial services: Commission study identifies remaining hurdles
April 24, 2018--The European Commission has today published a study on consumer financial services identifying obstacles that consumers continue to face in the EU when buying investment funds, investment-driven life insurance or private pension.
By pointing to the remaining impediments, the study illustrates the role of EU legislation, such as MIFID II, PRIIPS and the Insurance Distribution Directive, which have recently entered into application as of this year or will soon apply. Specifically, the study finds that while consumers have access to a large and diverse range of products, they face challenges in collecting and comparing information across the board. It also notes that costs for similar products continue to be very different across Member States. The wide-ranging study also shows that seeking advice from non-independent advisors, such as banks and insurers, remains the norm for the average European investor. Lastly, the study underlined that the potential for new distribution models based on FinTech is promising but must be monitored carefully.
FLOW TRADERS REPORTS BEST QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE TO DATE, CONFIRMING THE BUSINESS MODEL
April 24, 2018--Flow Traders N.V. (Euronext: FLOW) today released its unaudited 1Q18 trading update. The highlights for the period are as follows:
Best quarterly trading results (NTI) to date, with strong performance across all regions;
NTI increased to €213.2 million in 1Q18, against €39.3 million in 4Q17 and €48.3 million in 1Q17;
Flow Traders' ETP Value Traded grew 49% Q-o-Q, while the Market ETP Value Traded grew
38% Q-o-Q, showing market share gains across all regions;
Fixed costs fell 2% Q-o-Q, as Flow Traders continued to operate cost-consciously;
EBITDA margin 1Q18 was 63% compared to 34% in 4Q17;
Net Profit grew to €109.7 million, resulting in an EPS of €2.36;
Under the CRR capital requirement regulation, Flow Traders' own funds requirement as at 31 March 2018 was €151 million, resulting in excess capital of €183 million;
Dividend policy remains unchanged, Flow Traders targets to pay out at least 50% of its net profit;
Flow Traders remains the leading market maker in ETPs in EMEA;
Flow Traders' FTEs grew 4% Q-o-Q to 411 as at 31 March 2018.
Lyxor study: Active manager outperformance improves in 2017
April 24, 2018--44% outperformed up from 28%
The number of active managers in Europe beating their benchmarks in 2017 rose to 44%, an increase on the 28% recorded the previous year, according to data from Lyxor Asset Management.
The research, which studied over 6,000 funds across 23 different universes with assets under management totalling €1.4trn, found equity managers posted the the most robust results with 47% of managers outperforming in 2017 versus just 20% the previous year with quality and growth managers seeing the strongest performance.
Thomson Reuters-Active Funds: Coming Out of the Blocks Slowly in 2018
April 23, 2018--Having recently enjoyed a feast of inspiring Commonwealth Games performances, I was prompted to check out how well active funds have come out of the blocks in 2018.
I'm on the record as saying 2018 could be a good year for active funds. Typically, late-cycle environments precede a rotation out of momentum-biased ETFs and the increasingly expensive large-cap stocks they invest in, providing fertile ground for active stock pickers.
No signs of passive vehicle flow slow down in 2018
There is no doubt that flows into passive funds in Europe and the U.K. have been buoyant over the last few years, with some evidence of reaching "peak passive" at the end of 2017.
