Weekly roundup: RBS and UBS expand ETN offerings; iPath ETN suspended

ETFM provides a roundup of some of this week's ETF and indexing news.

RBS is adding another ETN to its suite of Trendpilot products. The RBS Oil Trendpilot ETN will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and will track an index which invests in either the RBS 12-Month Oil Total Return Index or a hypothetical notional investment in three-month US Treasuries, depending on the performance of the oil index on a historical 100-day moving average basis.

Barclays has redeemed one of its New York-listed iPath ETNs. The iPath Inverse January 2021 S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN hit its automatic termination level of $10 on 12 September.

This is one of a series of suspensions and redemptions of iPath ETNs. The iPath Long Enhanced S&P 500 Vix Mid-Term Futures ETN was terminated in July.

There has been a multitude of volatility products hitting the market over the past couple of years, but whereas most volatility-linked ETNs have a re-set feature, the Barclays ETNs do not.

This means that when the price of the ETN starts falling, it carries on and would continue to zero without the termination feature to stop that happening.

UBS launched 12 volatility ETNs last week, all based on the S&P 500 Vix Futures, the primary gauge of equity market volatility. The notes, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange on 7 September, provide long or short exposure to varying lengths of futures contract.

S&P is launching five select industry indices, designed to measure the performance of Global Industry Classification Standard sub-industries. The new indices are: S&P Banks Select Industry Index, S&P Capital Markets Select Industry Index, S&P Insurance Select Industry Index, S&P Mortgage Finance Select Industry Index and S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index.

The index provider will launch a sixth select industry index later this month, the S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index.

S&P also announced this week that it has teamed up with the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) to re-brand its existing Credit Default Swap indices as the S&P/Isda CDS Indices. The series consists of 10 indices which track the CDS spreads on sectors of the US market.