ETF Securities is planning to expand its exchange-traded currency platform with the launch of ten euro-based currency ETCs on the Deutsche Börse (Xetra) in the coming weeks.
ETF Securities is already established in Germany with over 114 commodity ETCs and 11 ETFs listed on Xetra, totalling approximately USD1.5bn of local investment and close to USD200m weekly trading volume on Xetra.
The ten new currency ETCs will track Morgan Stanley Foreign Exchange Indices and are designed to replicate a fully collateralised long or short investment in EUR versus CHF, GBP, JPY, NOK, or SEK and also provide exposure to local interest rates.
They will complement the existing platform of 18 currency ETCs listed on the London Stock Exchange on 12 November 2009 providing long or short passive exposure to G10 currencies versus the US Dollar and include AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, NOK, NZK and SEK.
Since the launch of the currency ETC platform, assets have grown to approximately USD50m and weekly trading volumes have risen strongly, up over 200 per cent since start of 2010.
Currency ETCs which are long USD and short G10 currencies have seen the most interest from investors, making up 81 per cent of assets. ETFS Short EUR Long USD has been the most popular trade in 2010, capturing 50 per cent of new assets, while the Australian dollar held the most net long positions.
Nik Bienkowski, chief operating officer, says: “ETF Securities is extremely proud to be able to be offering these ten new exciting currency ETCs which use the same widely accepted structure as commodity ETCs. This will broaden our currency offering to include ten long and short euro currency ETCs in addition to the existing 18 long and short USD currency ETC.”
