Number of ETFs listed on Borsa Italiana exceeds 200

30 new Exchange Traded Funds will start trading on Borsa Italiana’s ETFplus market on Tuesday 26^th February 2008, taking the total number of ETFs listed on the exchange to 221.  The new listings follow a record month for ETF trading on Borsa Italiana, with the average daily value traded during January reaching  Euro 403 million,  and the average daily number of trades reaching15,796.

Borsa Italiana first launched trading in ETFs in September 2002. At the end of 2003, the total ETF assets under management amounted to Euro 530 million.  This figure grew to Euro 7.5 billion at the end of 2006, and by the end of 2007 total ETF assets under management  had reached Euro 10 billion.

Trading activity on ETFplus has grown strongly since launch; increasing from 54,000 trades in 2003 to 1, 336,807 in 2007, an increase of 172% on 2006. The total value traded increased from Euro 1.5 billion in 2003 to Euro 31.8 billion in 2007, an increase of 182 %  on 2006.

At the end of 2003 the average daily value traded was Euro 5.8 billion and the average daily number of trades was 215 .  By January 2008, the average daily value traded had reached Euro 192.7 million and the average daily number of trades reached 7,437.

In 2007, according to FESE (Federation of European Securities Exchanges), Borsa Italiana, with its 1.3 million trades held the first place among European exchanges for electronic trading in ETFs, followed by Euronext and Deutsche Borse.

The most heavily traded ETF so far this year in terms of value traded has been the LYXOR ETF EURO CASH which has attracted turnover of Euro 680 million.. The most frequently traded ETF during the same period was the LYXOR ETF MSCI INDIA, followed by three other ETFs on emerging markets indices: LYXOR ETF CHINA, ISHARES FTSE/XINHUA CHINA 25, ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL.

The ETF market in Italy is characterised by strong levels of participation by retail investors.   The average size of ETF trades on Borsa Italiana in 2007 was Euro 24,581 compared with Euro 199,693 on Deutsche Borse Euro 102,166 on Euronext (Source: FESE).

In 2007 and in the first weeks of 2008 the range of ETFs on offer on the ETFplus market has broadened, so that together with extensive coverage of equity and bond markets all over the world, ETFplus provides investors access to innovative ETFs linked to liquidity, fundamental and quantitative indices as well as structured ETFs which help investors to achieve more sophisticated strategies (short, lever long, lever short, buywrite, protective put).

The strong international interest in Borsa Italiana ETFplus is underlined by the recent entrance into the market of 4 new issuers: PowerShares and JP Morgan in November 2007, SPA ETF in January 2008 and SGAM in February 2008, which joined the existing 5 issuers.

Pietro Poletto, director of Borsa Italiana ETFplus market, said: “Thanks to their unique advantages, ETFs are attracting more and more interest from both institutional  and retail investors seeking efficient exposure to a range of asset classes. Reaching 200 listed ETFs represents a milestone for the market, and  together with the increasing number of players on the ETFs Italian market, demonstrates the leading role  being played by Borsa Italiana in the development of ETF market on an international level”.