New type of ETF promises to shrink spreads

With the launch of their 'international' range of ETFs, iShares and Euroclear are creating a new type of ETF issuance inside an established structure. If their hopes pan out, all ETFs will look like this three to five years from now. By Yakob Peterseil

Squint at the factsheet for the iShares MSCI USA Dividend IQ Ucits ETF (QDIV), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) sold in Europe, and you will probably find nothing that strikes you as especially peculiar. But in one important respect, QDIV is not a typical ETF. The settlement process for ETFs has been the same for almost two decades, but QDIV ignores this and settles in a way that is different from any other ETF that has come before.

This may seem like a detail only a finance geek could find