S&P Dow Jones Indices expanding in Asia

S&P Dow Jones Indices is expanding in Asia, with plans to widen access by local investors to S&P indices and to promote local country indices to international investors.

In China, an exchange-traded fund product launched in November by fund manager Bosera Asset Management allows Chinese investors to invest in the US market through benchmarking against the S&P 500 - the world's most popular index - for the first time. This takes the number of ETFs in China to almost 80.

So far this year, S&P Dow Jones Indices CEO Alexander Matturri has signed agreements with the stock exchanges of South Korea and Taiwan on the development of local indices. A former investment manager at Northern Trust, Mr Matturri has headed the indices business since 2007.