- Underpins FTSE longstanding commitment to Australian market
- Transparent benchmarks cover multiple sectors with range of analytics
- Australian fixed-income market volume has more than doubled since 2008
FTSE Group (“FTSE”), the third largest fixed income index provider, today announces the launch of the FTSE AFSA Australia Bond Index Series, a comprehensive set of fixed-income benchmarks that cover the different sectors of the Australian (AUD) bond market. This new series provides a wide variety of index and bond level analytics, along with sub-indices for sectors, ratings and maturity bands, allowing for more granular attribution and additional customisation options.
FTSE and ASFA (the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia) have been working in partnership since 2007 and, in 2009, jointly created the FTSE ASFA Australia Index Series to provide superannuation funds and their fund managers with industry-standard after-tax benchmarks. ASFA is the policy, research and advocacy body that represents the Australian superannuation industry and helps market participants with performance measurement, regulatory reporting and governance.
The methodology behind the new FTSE ASFA Australia Bond Index Series was designed in consultation with market participants to increase transparency in the AUD denominated bond market. It is replicable, using clear and publicly available rules, and the index utilises pricing sourced from the Interactive Data Corporation. Index management is governed by an independent committee formed by fixed-income practitioners and experts.
The FTSE ASFA Australia Bond Index Series includes over 70 sub-indices, with the three main index families broken down by sector, rating and maturity:
- FTSE ASFA Australia Overall Index – corporates, sovereigns and sub-sovereigns
- FTSE ASFA Australia Government Index – national and state government bonds
- FTSE ASFA Australia Covered Bonds Index – AUD denominated covered bonds
Donald Keith, Deputy Chief Executive, FTSE said:
“In partnership with ASFA, FTSE has developed a tailor-made index series that meets the specific requirements of the Australian bond market, which represents the 7th largest fixed income market in the world with a notional size of approximately AUD 1 trillion.”
Pauline Vamos, CEO, ASFA said:
“As more and more superannuation fund members move into retirement, the demand for stable assets with steady income streams, such as bonds, will continue to grow. This new index will offer superannuation funds greater choice in the way they benchmark Australian bonds, providing valuable input when it comes to measuring investment strategies.”