London Stock Exchange Combines FTSE, Russell Brands
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) said today it has combined its FTSE and Russell indexing business into one unit known as FTSE Russell.
The indexing giant “will now operate as one joint global index business, with a combined sales and product team serving its global customer base,” according to a statement.
LSEG acquired Russell via the $2.7 billion purchase of Russell Investments from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance in 2014. The combined indexing business provides indexes to hundreds of exchange traded funds, including some of the largest broad market and international ETFs.
Several of the largest international ETFs that trade in the U.S. are benchmarked to FTSE indices including the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) , the largest emerging markets ETF by assets, and the Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK) . The iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) , the largest China ETF, also tracks a FTSE index.
Russell is in the index provider for large ETFs such as the $25.1 billion iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) and the $6 billion iShares Russell Midcap Value ETF (IWS) . [LSE May Only Want Russell’s Index Biz]
Combined, there are nearly $10 trillion in global assets benchmarked to Russell and FTSE indexes.
Globally, FTSE is one of the largest providers of indexes for use by ETFs tracking Chinese stocks. In December, the firm said China ETFs tracking its indexes topped a combined $24 billion for the first time.
“With the IMF recently announcing that China has overtaken the USA to claim the title of the world’s largest economy, FTSE has continued to support market participants’ ever-increasing demand for access to the country. With a strong track record of developing China-focused benchmarks, FTSE offers a range of products for global and domestic participants. In November 2014, ETF AUM tracking FTSE China Index Series reached over $24bn for the first time,” said FTSE in a statement. [FTSE China ETFs top $24B in Assets]
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post.
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