The increasing popularity of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) has spread to Hong Kong, where investors will soon be given access to this kind of fund courtesy of Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which is to offer six of its iShares, a brand of ETF, in the SAR in the coming weeks.
ETF's have been catching the imagination of investors both in the US and Europe. They trade like a stock and can be bought and sold during trading hours. The offering from BGI will be the first time that ETFs have been offered on an Asian exchange, according to a company spokesperson. The six iShares are due to start trading in Hong Kong during March and they will each track a different country, namely Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
ETFs have proved popular in the US and EU for a number of reasons. Investment advisors like their low expense ratios and flexibility. There is no minimum purchase requirement so even small investors can play the foreign markets, buying or selling short a basket of stocks in a particular country. However, it is uncertain just how quickly ETFs will catch on in Hong Kong, given that investors there have been relatively slow to embrace other investment vehicles such as mutual and hedge funds. Only about 6 per cent of Asian investors have assets in ordinary mutual funds, compared with half of all US investors, and mutual fund fees tend to err on the high side compared with, say, the US.
ETFs look to be wending their way only slowly into other Asian markets. Japan should have been the first country to offer them, but regulatory glitches have meant that their launch in Japan is still some way ahead. Tom Taggart, a spokesman for Barclays, said: 'In Japan, the regulatory bodies are taking their time understanding what these are and how they work. The regulatory environment is still premature enough that I don't think anything will happen this year.'
.
Network Tweets
Network BlogsContent
provided by
|
Archive | Resources | Partners | Site Map | Links | Newsletter Archive | Contact | RSS Feeds | About | Syndication | Advertising & Marketing | Recruitment | Terms & Conditions | Privacy
Copyright © 2012 - All Rights Reserved - Tax-News.com
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Tax-News.com has taken reasonable care in sourcing and presenting the information contained on this site, but accepts no responsibility for any financial or other loss or damage that may result from its use. In particular, users of the site are advised to take appropriate professional advice before committing themselves to involvement in offshore jurisdictions, offshore trusts or offshore investments.
Write a comment