State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has moved the remaining range of its Irish-domiciled exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to a centralised settlement platform operated by Euroclear that is intended to create efficiencies.
Euroclear Bank’s international issuance structure is designed to simplify Europe’s fragmented ETF market by centralising issuance and settlement for ETFs that trade on multiple exchanges.
SSGA, which operates the SPDR ETF brand, migrated its first set of Irish ETFs to Euroclear’s platform in December 2014 and has now finished moving the remaining 62.
Brussels-based Euroclear, an international central securities depositary (ICSD), launched its international issuance structure in 2013 and counts BlackRock as one of its clients.
Mohamed M’Rabti, deputy head of FundsPlace, Euroclear, said: “SPDR were the first to migrate to our international ETF structure. Having all SPDR ETFs on the ICSD platform will allow SSGA’s clients to benefit from all the features of the model, such as securities lending, multi-currency settlement and longer settlement windows.”
At the end of 2017, ETFs to the value of €230 billion ($271 billion) had been issued in the international structure.
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