FinEx launches Russian Corporate Bond ETF in UK

FinEx Group has entered the European exchange traded fund (ETF) market with the launch of a Russian Corporate Bond ETF on the London Stock Exchange.

The fund tracks the Barclays EM Tradable Russian Corporate Bond index, which focuses on shorter maturity liquid Eurobonds issues by Russian non-sovereign issuers.

The firm said there is great demand for emerging market corporate debt, with ETFs growing as the vehicle of choice to access the asset class.

Research conducting by FinEx shows 46% of institutional investors are very favourable towards ETFs, while 44% expect to increase their exposure to them over the next 12 months.

In terms of what institutional investors find attractive about ETFs, 39% of those interviewed said their efficiency, followed by 27% who said liquidity and 27% diversification.

Simon Luhr, managing partner and CEO, FinEx Capital Management, said: ‘We believe that ESMA has addressed many of the criticisms aimed at ETFs, for example in terms of transparency, and our UCITS offering will aim to comply with all of the recent recommendations made by it.’

He added: ‘Although the global ETF market has enjoyed phenomenal growth in recent years it has yet to take off in many Emerging Markets. They are a new frontier to which we can take our very strong proposition.’