Caceis is the asset servicing banking group of Crédit Agricole and Santander. Pictured is their Luxembourg office. Photo: Paperjam (archives)

Caceis is the asset servicing banking group of Crédit Agricole and Santander. Pictured is their Luxembourg office. Photo: Paperjam (archives)

The partnership between Caceis and Ultumus, announced on 2 February, will help Caceis support clients in launching exchange-traded fund (ETF) products.

Now that Caceis has portfolio composition file (PCF) provider capabilities through Ultumus, this means it can help clients quickly and efficiently launch ETF products. ETFs are products that are traded on stock exchanges, while PCF refers to the makeup of the creation and redemption basket for the next trading day.

“What defines our approach to the ETF market is client-first, flexible thinking, and our hands-on partnership style. Our goal is to make it as efficient as possible for clients to access the ETF ecosystem, which led to our partnership with Ultumus. Its PCF format is already used by major ETF participants in the industry, which makes it an efficient plug and play solution and it strengthens our end-to-end ETF offering for clients,” stated Gilles Dubos, senior expert, ETF solutions at Caceis, in an announcement.

The PCF capabilities provided by Ultumus--which is already fully integrated into the ETF ecosystem--removes barriers to the market, the firms said. Clients don’t have to build their own in-house solutions to produce PCFs, thus making ETFs more transparent and efficient to trade.

“We are excited to have Caceis as a client for our PCF Calculation service,” commented Bernie Thurston, CEO at Ultumus. “We understand the importance of pricing accuracy and speed and have expanded the datasets associated with ETFs to facilitate this for the whole ETF eco-system.”

Caceis wants to continue to expand

The European ETF market is worth approximately €1.3trn with 2022 inflows of €80bn. Caceis provides services to third-party ETF issuers, such as transfer agency, custody, administration and accounting, reporting, middle-office services as well as services covering execution, clearing, forex and securities financing, the company spokesperson explained to Delano.

“Today, the group services ETF funds totalling close to €100bn. We want to continue our expansion in terms of assets and geographically and this ambition is reflected in our Medium Term Plan at group level,” said the spokesperson. “As the market is split mainly between Luxembourg (33%) and Ireland (66%), Caceis is looking to grow in both domiciles by participating in numerous industry conferences, identifying cross-selling opportunities from its existing mutual fund clientele, and targeting key ETF promoters who could benefit from being part of Caceis’ global servicing network.”

This year, Caceis aims to increase support for launching, promoting and distributing ETF funds, especially for first-time promoters looking to enter the ETF market, and to establish Caceis as a “one-stop shop” for ETF issuers.

What does this mean for Luxembourg?

ETFs are a particularly attractive product for investors as they are easily accessible and can be bought or sold throughout the day, noted Caceis. They also include a large range of fund types and allow investors to use stock exchanges.

“Luxembourg and Dublin are both the leading domiciles in the ETF space and we believe that both markets are great places for issuing ETFs, each presenting its own specific advantages depending on client preference, and we expect to see continued growth in the future,” said the Caceis spokesperson.

Caceis is the asset servicing banking group of Crédit Agricole and Santander dedicated to asset managers, insurance companies, pension funds, banks, private equity and real estate funds, brokers and corporate clients. It has offices across Europe, North and South America, and Asia.