National Bank of Abu Dhabi has chosen Northern Trust as administrator and custodian of the UAE’s first physically replicated exchange trade fund (ETF), which the bank has renamed NBAD OneShare MSCI UAE ETF.
Northern Trust has been working with National Bank of Abu Dhabi since the launch of its ETF in 2010.
The bank changed the fund from a swap-based model to a physically replicated one and moved it from index provider Dow Jones UAE 25 Total Return Index to MSCI UAE IMI 10/40.
“We have enhanced our ETF following consultations with a number of international authorised participants and in response to a strong demand for physical replication,” said Saleem Khokhar, head of equities at National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s asset management group. “We believe physical replication will increase scalability and remove restrictive collateral requirements and are pleased to work with Northern Trust who, through their depth of expertise and experience in ETF administration could support our sophisticated administrative requirements.’’
Liam Butler, head of ETF fund administration for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Northern Trust, added: “The dynamics of ETFs are different from other fund types. We can offer a variety of ETF administration solutions to support our client’s unique requirements for transparency and reporting.’’
