State Street, one of the leading ETF issuers in the United States, may launch an ETF linked to the mainland’s CSI 100 Index in Hong Kong, according to mainland media. The index is a gauge of A shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Sammy Yip Ka-tak, head of ETF for the Asia-Pacific region at State Street Global Advisors Asia, said he could not comment on the ETF product because “a lot of details” had not been finalized.
Before they came to market, the iShares FTSE/Xinhua A50 China Tracker (2823) issued by Barclays Global Investors was the only mainland market investment fund listed on the exchange.
The ETF has surged 88.85 percent this year and jumped 160.59 percent last year.
Yip said State Street would go ahead with the product “as long as investors welcome a specific kind of ETF exposure.”
Although State Street is the manager of the Tracker Fund launched in 1999, it is not active in the Hong Kong ETF market. It listed its second ETF – ABF Pan Asia Bond Index Fund (2821) on the Hong Kong exchange in July 2005.