Polaris and State Street launch first ETF on Taiwan exchange

Taiwan’s Polaris International Securities Investment Trust and Boston-based State Street Global Advisors have launched Polaris Taiwan Top 50 Tracker Fund (TTT), the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) to be listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Trading on the TTT is starting today.

ETFs are open-ended index mutual funds which are listed and traded on stock exchanges. ETFs generally track a stock index and are typically launched by a group of dedicated brokers, called the authorised participants, which underwrite the funds and sell them to investors.

TTT is referenced on the Taiwan 50 Index and its trading price will be about 1% of the Taiwan 50 Index’s. Among the advantages of the TTT is the possibility of short selling the ETF and a lower tax levied on the ETF, at 0.1%, compared with stocks which are taxed at 0.3%.

TTT’s management fee of 0.32% per annum is the lowest mutual fund fee in Taiwan. Polaris and State Street expect TTT’s asset size to reach NT$10 billion ($288 million)within a year.