HSBC Securities Services will provide a bundled outsourcing service for a new fixed income exchange traded fund (ETF) platform operated by passive asset manager Tabula.
The bundled service includes fund administration, depositary and custody services to the platform, which will mostly include Irish-domiciled UCITS fund in the form of ETFs.
Tabula plans to launch a range of fixed income ETFs targeting at pan-European investors, as passive investing look to evolve from equity-based ETFs to fixed income.
“We have invested heavily in both our ETF technology and people,” said Cian Burke, global head of HSBC Securities Services. “As a group, HSBC is hugely committed to the ETF business globally. We believe this appointment is an endorsement of this strategy.
HSBC has over the past years built out a global ETF asset servicing business, in which it has largely connected investors to ETFs listed through China’s Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) trading programme.
The mandate with Tabula is also a big win for HSBC’s Ireland securities services business, according to HSBC Securities Services country head Tony McDonnell, which currently holds in excess of $200 billion in assets under custody and administration in Ireland.
“Ireland is central to this development and we have worked very hard to ensure we are leaders in this space,” said McDonnell.