OREANDA-NEWS. The ETF year 2015 was once again very successful for SIX Swiss Exchange. Trading turnover had exceeded the prior-year value by 7 December already and ultimately recorded the second-best result of all time at CHF 96.3 billion. Of this, CHF 19.7 billion was generated in the fourth quarter of 2015. ETF trading turnover was up by more than 6% year-over-year. This was revealed today in the latest edition of ETF Quarterly Statistics[pdf]. There were 247'429 ETF transactions carried out on SIX Swiss Exchange in the fourth quarter. The average transaction size over the year as a whole was CHF 90'521, continuing the downward trend. The number of transactions smaller than CHF 10'000 rose by 109'982 transactions versus the previous quarter.

Most-traded products

The iShares S&P 500 UCITS closed the fourth quarter as the most-traded ETF with a trading turnover of CHF 1'091.3 million. iShares SMI (formerly CS ETF on SMI) was pushed into second place for the first time with a trading turnover of CHF 958.2 million, followed by UBS ETF - MSCI EM SF USD A and UBS ETF - MSCI EMU hedged to USD, with a trading turnover of CHF 750.2 million and 575.2 million, respectively, in positions 3 and 4. 13th place in the Top 20 was taken by PowerShares EQQQ Nasdaq-100 UCITS ETF with a turnover of CHF 241.6 million, while 16th place was taken by db x-trackers SMI® UCITS ETF (DR) 1D with a trading turnover of CHF 213.6 million. 95% of the Top 20 were equity-based ETFs. The iShares $ Treasury Bond 7-10yr UCITS ETF was the only fixed income product in the Top 20, coming in in 11th place.

1'117 listed ETFs

The final quarter of 2015 was characterized by increased fluctuations on the currency and financial markets as well as by a less favourable growth outlook in the emerging economies. These uncertainties prompted stronger demand for currency-hedged ETFs. An increased number of currency-hedged products were both listed and traded. UBS expanded its range of currency-hedged products at the beginning of October 2015, listing 3 ETFs on the MSCI ACWI with different currency hedging strategies. At end-October, State Street Global Advisors launched ten ETFs on the Swiss exchange on various themes in the field of consumer goods.

During the fourth quarter of 2015, a total of 57 new ETFs were listed on SIX Swiss Exchange. As of end-2015, the ETF segment on SIX Swiss Exchange featured 1'117 products, 12 of which are actively managed ETFs (a total of 329 are in an additional trading currency). The products are listed on the stock exchange by 20 providers, with liquidity provided by 23 official market makers.

State of the Art - our selection of Exchange Traded Funds

In February 2015, the ETF offering on SIX Swiss Exchange reached the milestone of 1'000 ETFs, and in September, the 15th anniversary was celebrated. Two new issuers also began listing their ETFs on SIX Swiss Exchange in 2015, namely WisdomTree (March) and Van Eck Global Investments (June).