State Street expands European ETF platform

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has launched eight ETFs across fixed income, global and emerging equities on the Deutsche Boerse.

The funds, which are expected to begin trading today, mark a new stage in the much anticipated European expansion of SSgA's SPDR branded ETFs.

The issuer is the second largest in both the US and the world but has previously offered European investors only a handful of domestic sector funds.

SSgA head of ETF development Scott Ebner revealed in an interview with Reuters that beyond these eight, the firm has an additional 10 SPDRs registered in Ireland waiting to be fully launched.

Five of those ETFs unveiled on the German exchange track broad and regional MSCI emerging market indices, including MSCI EM Europe and the targeted MSCI EM Small Cap.

Two other funds round out SSgA's equity offering, replicating the MSCI All Country World index (ACWI) and the expansive MSCI All Country World Investable Market (ACWI IMI) index, whose universe encompasses around 9000 securities from 45 countries.

The final fund, SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond, represents SSgA's first fixed income ETF in Europe.

Ebner has suggested this platform will be further developed with an ETF denominated in local currencies, although the exact composition of the 10 pending ETFs has not been revealed.