Luxembourg’s financial regulator is set to ease transparency rules for active ETFs, allowing managers to publish holdings with a one-month lag instead of disclosing holdings daily.
This move aims to attract more active ETFs to domicile in Luxembourg, giving it the edge over Ireland's Central Bank (CBI) which currently states issuers must disclose holdings daily.
However, the CBI may review its stance, with Deputy Governor Derville Rowland hinting at a shift towards a "principles-based approach."
Luxembourg’s financial regulator also allows UCITS ETF identifiers at the share class level, making it easier for mutual fund managers to launch ETF share classes, though the CBI also recently converged with this stance.
Vanguard resumes launches
Vanguard is ending its two-year launch hiatus with three new fixed-income ETFs recently approved by the CBI. Though the products are index-tracking, Vanguard has previously expressed a growing interest in Europe’s active fixed income ETF market.
Since entering Europe in 2012, Vanguard’s UCITS ETF range now holds €160bn assets under management (AUM) which has skyrocketed from €100bn in 2023.
Meanwhile, American Century has launched the Avantis Emerging Markets Equity UCITS ETF (AVEM), bringing its European active ETF lineup to three.
Actively managed, AVEM targets emerging market equities, including Chinese shares and convertible bonds.
DWS and Scalable Capital launch MSCI ACWI ETF
Finally, DWS partnered with Scalable Capital to launch the Xtrackers Scalable MSCI AC World UCITS ETF (SCWX).
Scalable Capital will provide advisory services for portfolio construction, utilising a mix of direct stock investments, physical ETFs, and derivatives to replicate the index.
Targeted at retail investors, the ETF uses multiple replication strategies, which has not yet been seen in the European ETF industry.
