State Street has launched its Fund Connect ETF portal in Australia.
The online portal is designed as a single point of access for issuers to create and redeem exchange traded funds, the company announced on 1 August.
“We believe an electronic trading solution like the Fund Connect ETF portal will bring significant value to ETF issuers and APs [authorised participants] in Australia,” said Lori Coakley, global head of Fund Connect ETF at State Street.
Her comments come as the creation and redemption process in the Australian ETF market still relies heavily on manual tasks including faxes.
The platform’s launch in Australia comes also after it went live in Singapore last year.
“Australia is one of the fastest growing ETF markets in the Asia Pacific region and this portal will be an important solution to meet the needs of clients in the country,” said Tim Helyar, country head for State Street in Australia.
“Since 2018, ETF assets in Australia have risen from A$41bn ($27.5bn) to A$147bn, a compound annual growth rate of 29%,” he said.
The Fund Connect ETF has been serving as a conduit between APs and issuers globally for over 15 years. It provides a single point of access to approximately 1,100 ETFs in multiple currencies from more than 50 leading issuers.
The portal has around 95 APs at the moment.
