UBS launched seven new ETFs on the SIX Swiss Exchange last week. The funds and their currency, total expense ratios and codes are given in the table below. All the ETFs are physically replicated and are registered for sale in Switzerland, Austria, the UK and Luxembourg.

According to UBS, the I (institutional) class ETFs are targeted at wealthy private and institutional clients and combine lower annual fees with a higher absolute net asset value for the relevant ETF shares.

The new ETF listings expand UBS’s product range substantially, from 10 to 17 listings. All track equity indices and all but two are based on MSCI indices; the other funds track Switzerland’s SMI and SLI equity indices. According to the latest edition of Deutsche Bank’s ETF Liquidity Trends report, UBS ranks tenth amongst European ETF issuers by funds under management, with €1.95 billion.

In a company press release, UBS states that the appointment of a new market maker to help support secondary market liquidity should ensure tighter bid-offer spreads for investors seeking to trade in ETFs on-exchange. IndexUniverse.eu’s recent survey of competing ETFs tracking the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index showed that UBS’s offering traded with substantially higher dealing spreads than other European ETFs.