UK - Barclays Global Investors has launched two UK government bond Exchange Traded Funds for UK investors. 

It said the iShares £ Index-Linked Gilts and the iShares FTSE UK All Stocks Gilt have been launched in response to UK investors "increasingly embracing ETFs as a low-cost and easy-to-use tool for accessing both fixed income and equity markets".

"Investors can use these products to achieve a wide range of investment objectives, including income generation, funding future liabilities, enhancing portfolio risk-adjusted returns and inflation protection," said Jennifer Grancio, head of distribution for BGI's iShares arm in Europe.

She added: "With investors using ETFs in more and more sophisticated investment strategies we see demand not only for broad asset class exposure tools but also for more specific iShares ETFs. 

"These new ETFs share the same characteristics of our iShares product family including their liquidity, transparency, easy market access and cost-efficiency. 

"There is really no limit as to where fixed income iShares can go in the future, whether that is high yield, emerging markets, credit default swaps based ETFs or total return swaps."

BGI released a survey by EDHEC Risk and Asset Management that found the total European ETF assets under management have grown by 49% to £41.7bn.

Sixty-one percent of respondents are current or planned users of ETFs.

The UK government today announced it would scrap stamp duty levied on non-resident ETFs, a move welcomed by the London Stock Exchange.
 
CEO Clara Furse said: "This is excellent news for London's investment community.  While growth in ETF activity in London over the last two years has been very strong, the levying of stamp duty on non-resident ETFs has deterred new product providers from entering the market, limiting the range of ETFs available in the UK."

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