State Street Global Advisors Launches the First European ETF to Provide Short Maturity Emerging Market Bond Exposure

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), the asset management arm of State Street Corporation has announced the launch of the SPDR® BofA Merrill Lynch 0–5 Year EM USD Government Bond UCITS ETF, which listed on the Deutsche Börse, Xetra today. It is the first European ETF to provide exposure to short maturity emerging market bonds in hard currency.

The new ETF, which tracks the BofA Merrill Lynch 0–5 Year EM USD Government Bond ex-144a Index, looks to reflect the performance of short-maturity emerging market government debt issued in US dollars.

It opens up a new segment of the emerging market bond universe for investors wanting to lower the duration or the volatility of their existing hard currency emerging market debt investments. Investors can also increase the yield of their existing US dollar short maturity investments.

Alexis Marinof, head of SPDR ETFs EMEA commented, “This new ETF captures the global investment universe of short maturity emerging market bonds and adds to our existing emerging market fixed income capabilities.”

“It allows investors to reduce the duration of their existing emerging market debt exposure or increase the yield of the US dollar portion of their portfolio, while giving them full transparency of their holdings on a daily basis. We are delighted to launch a SPDR ETF that offers investors broader access to the emerging markets fixed income universe, in one simple trade.”

There are now 60 SPDR ETFs available across Europe. Today’s launch follows the introduction of the recent world first SPDR® Thomson Reuters Global Convertible Bond UCITS ETF which commenced trading on the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse in October.