Australian ETF regulation ahead of Europe

The firm claims the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Stock Exchange (ASX) pre-empted the concerns recently raised by a number of European bodies about the development of the ETF industry. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) issued a paper last month expressing concerns about the quality of physical assets underlying synthetic ETFs, particularly when the issuer is part of the investment bank that provides the swap. Before swap-based ETFs were introduced in Australia, the regulator there developed rules that restrict counterparty exposure to a maximum...