Amundi is shifting its €650m global equity ESG ETF from Luxembourg to Ireland in what could be the start of a €18bn asset transfer to the Emerald Isle.
In a shareholder notice, Amundi MSCI World ESG Leaders Select UCITS ETF (SADW) was absorbed by the newly-created Amundi MSCI World ESG Leaders UCITS ETF on 7 July, a sub-fund of the Amundi ETF Irish collective asset management vehicle (ICAV).
It comes after the French asset manager duplicated six existing ETFs already housed in Luxembourg in Ireland in March, as it bids to attract investors looking to benefit from the country’s favourable tax treaty with the US.
At the time, Amundi did not rule out merging the Luxembourg-domiciled ETFs into its ICAV, stating any product evolution would be “driven by client demand”.
Collectively, the six ETFs house €17.8bn assets under management (AUM).
Amundi did not respond to a request for comment.
The five other duplicate ETFs are:
€3.5bn Amundi S&P 500 ESG UCITS ETF (S500H)
€4.2bn Amundi MSCI World SRI Climate Net Zero Ambition PAB UCITS ETF (WSRI)
€5.7bn Amundi MSCI USA SRI Climate Net Zero Ambition PAB UCITS ETF (USRI)
€2.2bn Amundi MSCI USA ESG Leaders UCITS ETF (SADU)
€1.5bn Amundi S&P 500 Climate Net Zero Ambition PAB UCITS ETF (PABS)
Under the Ireland-US double taxation treaty, US equity ETFs domiciled in Ireland are subject to a 15% withholding tax rate on dividends versus 30% for ETFs in Luxembourg and other jurisdictions.
Ireland has extended its lead over Luxembourg as the place to domicile ETFs in recent years, with the two acting as the primary European domiciles of choice for UCITS ETFs.
According to data from ETFbook, Ireland houses roughly 67% of the total European ETF market with $953bn AUM across 1,789 ETFs versus $277bn for Luxembourg, as at the end of Q1.
Amundi started domiciling new ETFs in Ireland last May while its French rival BNP Paribas Asset Management listed its first ETF – the BNP Paribas Easy S&P 500 ESG UCITS ETF (SPEEU) – on its ICAV platform last month.
