International index provider Standard & Poor’s has licensed Tokyo-based Nomura Asset Management to use the RTS Index, a benchmark for Russian equities, to launch a programme of locally
International index provider Standard & Poor’s has licensed Tokyo-based Nomura Asset Management to use the RTS Index, a benchmark for Russian equities, to launch a programme of locally-traded exchange traded notes to be listed on the Osaka Stock Exchange.
‘This agreement with Nomura AM represents the most recent in a series of successful licensing agreements generated under our commercial partnership with RTS,’ says Yuri Morozov, director of Standard & Poor’s Index Services in Russia and the former Soviet Union.
‘This is a pioneering deal in that it adds Japan as a new geographic dimension – while opening up a whole new class of exchange traded instruments, ETNs – based on the RTS Index.’
Roman Goryunov, chairman of the Russian Trading System stock exchange, says: ‘The RTS index demonstrates Russia’s attractiveness to investors from all over the world. ETNs have become one of the fastest-growing segments of the global markets and are accessed by more and more investors.
‘We are glad to see that foreign companies are keen to establish equity-linked instruments based on Russian underlyings. Once again, the RTS Index has proven its appeal as the recognised benchmark for the Russian stock market.’
Standard & Poor’s Index Services maintains a wide variety of investible and benchmark indices including the S&P 500, an index with USD1.32trn invested and USD4.91trn benchmarked, and the S&P Global 1200, a composite index comprising seven regional and country headline indices.
The RTS Index is based on the 50 most liquid and capitalised shares of Russian companies. The exchange offers access to shares, bonds, futures and options on the shares and bonds of Russian companies, the RTS Index, federal loan bonds, oil, gold, gas oil and sugar.
