FTSE Group Teams with The American Stock Exchange |
- Agreement to Promote Creation of ETFs - |
NEW YORK & LONDON -
FTSE Group, the global index company, has reached a significant milestone in its expansion plans in the United States. FTSE and the American Stock Exchange (Amex), the leader and pioneer of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), today announced an agreement to promote the creation of ETFs for the U.S. marketplace.
FTSE and Amex ETF Services, which provides comprehensive, turnkey solutions to ETF issuers, sponsors and service providers, will work together to identify potential sponsors that will create ETFs, based on FTSE indexes, which will be listed for trading in the United States. Sponsors should be selected before the second half of 2003.
The first exchange-traded fund indexes that the Amex and FTSE will focus on include the FTSE 100, the blue-chip benchmark index for the London Stock Market, FTSE Global Sector Indexes and the FTSE4Good Series of Socially Responsible Indexes.
"We enjoy a strong relationship with the American Stock Exchange and in a crowded marketplace, this affiliation allows FTSE to tap into the Amex's expertise and resources to help us create unique exchange-traded funds that meet the needs of investors seeking diversified portfolios," said Mark Makepeace, Chief Executive, FTSE Group.
FTSE enters the U.S. ETF marketplace from a position of strength overseas. In the U.K., more ETF assets are linked to FTSE indexes than any other provider. In Europe, FTSE indexes are a primary choice for the creation of exchange-traded funds and the FTSE Global Sector Indexes are the basis for some of the leading sector-based ETFs.
The American Stock Exchange pioneered the creation of the ETF in 1993 and today lists and trades 125 ETFs, more than any other exchange in the U.S. The Amex's market leadership in ETFs has also led to agreements with exchanges outside the U.S. and enabled the Amex to cross-list and trade ETFs with other leading exchanges around the world.
"The American Stock Exchange has always looked for ways to bring new diversified investment opportunities to investors," said American Stock Exchange Chairman and CEO Salvatore F. Sodano. "FTSE Group is known for developing sound and reliable indexes, and we're very pleased to partner with them to identify new opportunities to bring more of these increasingly popular products to the marketplace."
Today's agreement furthers the relationship between FTSE Group and the American Stock Exchange. Earlier this year, Mr. Sodano was appointed to the FTSE/Xinhua Index Committee, which oversees the FTSE/Xinhua series of Chinese indexes.
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About American Stock Exchange
The American Stock Exchange® (Amex®) is the only primary exchange that offers trading across a full range of equities, options and exchange traded funds (ETFs), including structured products and HOLDRSSM. In addition to its role as a national equities market, the Amex is the pioneer of the ETF, responsible for bringing the first domestic product to market in 1993. Leading the industry in ETF listings, the Amex lists 125 ETFs to date. The Amex is also the second largest options exchange in the U.S., trading options on broad-based and sector indexes as well as domestic and foreign stocks.
About Amex ETF Services
The American Stock Exchange has created Amex ETF Services to assist the investment management community in pursuing new opportunities in the rapidly expanding ETF arena worldwide and to provide ETF issuers, sponsors and service providers with data support and comprehensive consultation on all aspects of ETF product development. For more information, please contact Robert Tull at 212-306-1660 or
robert.tull@amex.com.
About FTSE Group
FTSE Group is a world-leader in the creation and management of indexes. With offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Madrid, New York and San Francisco, FTSE Group services clients in 77 countries worldwide. It manages and develops globally recognized indexes ranging from the FTSE All-World Index to the FTSE 100, the FTSE4Good indices and the recently launched Global Style index series. The company has collaborative arrangements with the Athens, Cyprus, Euronext, Johannesburg, London, Luxembourg, and Madrid exchanges, as well as with Nikkei of Japan (Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc) and Xinhua Financial Network of China.
FTSE indexes are used extensively by investors world-wide for investment analysis, performance measurement, asset allocation, portfolio hedging and for creating a wide range of index tracking funds. Independent committees of senior fund managers, derivatives experts, actuaries and other experienced practitioners review all changes to the indexes to ensure they are made objectively and without bias. Real-time FTSE indices are calculated on systems managed by Reuters. Prices and FX rates used are supplied by Reuters. For more information, visit, www.ftse.com.
The FTSE 100 Index is a capitalization-weighted index of the 100 most highly capitalized companies traded on the London Stock Exchange. The index is designed to measure the performance of the largest blue chip companies in the UK market. The index represents approximately 80% of the UK market capitalization and is suitable as the basis for investment products, such as derivatives and exchange-traded funds.
FTSE Global Sector Indexes are designed to allow investors to trade global sectors quickly and efficiently. The FTSE Global Sector Index Series provides 13 highly tradable indexes that have been created for use in sector-based trading. The indexes can form the basis for a wide-range of OTC and exchange index derivatives as well as the creation of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. Stocks are selected from the FTSE All-World Developed Index and sector designations follow the FTSE Global Classification System.
FTSE4Good is an index series for socially responsible investment. FTSE4Good is a series of eight benchmark and tradable indexes to measure the performance of and facilitate investment in companies with good records of corporate social responsibility. The FTSE4Good Series is independently defined and researched and sets an objective global standard for socially responsible investment. The FTSE4Good selection criteria cover three areas: working towards environmental sustainability, developing positive relationships with stakeholders and upholding and supporting universal human rights.
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