REYKJAVIK, August 15, 2013 - The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) today announced that NASDAQ OMX Iceland has listed a new exchange traded fund (ETF) issued by the Icelandic fund management company Landsbref. The new ETF, “LEQ” (Landsbref Equity), is based on the OMX Iceland 6 Cap index which consists of the six most traded companies on the Icelandic equity market.
LEQ is the first exchange traded fund to be listed on the Icelandic equity market since 2004, and now the only fund traded on exchange on the Icelandic market. Landsbref aims at issuing a set of new bond ETFs in the coming months.
“The new LEQ exchange traded fund from Landsbréf is a welcoming addition to our product offering on the Icelandic market,” Magnus Hardarson, Vice-President NASDAQ OMX Iceland commented. “In our rebuilding of the Icelandic market we have experienced a great increase in equity trading, and this new issuance of an ETF will certainly support the growth potential of the equity market.”
“We are delighted to lead the come back of exchange traded funds on the Icelandic market with the new LEQ fund,” Sigthor Jonsson, CEO of Landsbréf commented. “The new LEQ ETF is a suitable trading product for investors who want to have an easy access to the most traded companies on the Icelandic market at low cost. It is our hope that the fund will be welcomed by investors in Iceland as well as abroad.”
Landsbankinn will act as a market maker to provide liquidity.
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About Exchange Traded Funds
An Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is a security that tracks an index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange. ETFs are a complement to actively managed funds and provide investors with the possibility to invest in well known indices in the local currency.
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About NASDAQ OMX Group
The inventor of the electronic exchange, The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc., fuels economies and provides transformative technologies for the entire lifecycle of a trade - from risk management to trade to surveillance to clearing. In the U.S. and Europe, we own and operate 26 markets, 3 clearinghouses and 5 central securities depositories supporting equities, options, fixed income, derivatives, commodities, futures and structured products. Able to process more than 1 million messages per second at sub-55 microsecond speeds with 99.99% uptime, our technology drives more than 70 marketplaces in 50 developed and emerging countries into the future, powering 1 in 10 of the world’s securities transactions. Our award-winning data products and worldwide indexes are the benchmarks in the financial industry. Home to approximately 3,300 listed companies worth more than $6 trillion in market cap whose innovations shape our world, we give the ideas of tomorrow access to capital today. Welcome to where the world takes a big leap forward, daily. Welcome to the NASDAQ OMX Century. To learn more, visit www.nasdaqomx.com. Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NASDAQ) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/nasdaqomx). (Symbol: NDAQ and member of S&P 500)
MEDIA RELATIONS CONTACTS: NASDAQ OMX ICELAND: Kristin Johannsdottir +354 525 2844 KRISTIN.JOHANNSDOTTIR@NASDAQOMX.COM LANDSBREF: Sigthor Jonsson +354 410 2511 SIGTHOR.JONSSON@LANDSBREF.IS
