Northern Trust Hatches Country ETFs

April 9, 2008

SAN DIEGO (ETFguide.com) - Two new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by Northern Trust Global Investments were introduced today on the American Stock Exchange (Amex). 

The new ETFs are:

NETS S&P/ASX 200 Index Fund (Australia) (Ticker: AUS) - AUS aims to track the price and yield performance of publicly traded securities in the aggregate in the Australian market, as measured by the S&P/ASX 200 Index.  The Index is a float-adjusted, market capitalization-weighted index consisting of the largest 200 stocks listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

NETS FTSE 100 Index Fund (United Kingdom) (Ticker: LDN) - LDN aims to track the price and yield performance of publicly-traded securities in the aggregate in the British market, as represented by the FTSE 100 Index.  The Index is a free float adjusted, market capitalization-weighted index, consisting of stocks of the largest 100 companies traded primarily on the London Stock Exchange.

Both funds will compete directly with the single country ETFs offered by Barclays Global Investors. The iShares country funds mirror MSCI indexes and charge annual expense ratios that range from 0.54 to 0.74 percent.

Along with today's ETF offerings, Northern Trust's funds will track many of the same countries but with competing market indexes and lower expense ratios.
 

According to the prospectus, the NETS country ETFs will charge just 0.47 percent.

Northern Trust is also planning ETFs that will track equity markets in France, Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong.

It's the Chicago-based bank's first foray into the ETF marketplace. 

“The Amex is proud to support Northern Trust in bringing their first family of funds into the ETF marketplace,” said Scott Ebner, Senior Vice President of the Amex ETF Marketplace. “These NETS ETFs are linked to established and globally-recognized indexes.” 

Kellogg Capital Group, LLC is the specialist for AUS and LDN.