New ETF Firm To Try Its Hand At China Funds

Oklahoma-based Exchange Traded Concepts, the new ETF incubator firm run by Garrett Stevens who previously ran FaithShares, the now-defunct ETF issuer behind several Christian denomination funds, is looking to get its feet in the new ETF arena by entering an already crowded niche: China-specific ETFs.

Exchange Traded Concepts has filed plans with the SEC for seven China-specific ETFs. The new ETFs include the KraneShares China Consumer Luxury ETF, which will track the Dow Jones China Consumer Luxury Index.

The KraneShares China Alternative Energy ETF will track the Dow Jones Alternative Energy Index while the KraneShares China Internet ETF will follow the CSI China Overseas Internet Index. The KraneShares China Consumer Staples ETF will be benchmarked to the CSI Overseas China Consumer Staples Index.

Exchange Traded Concepts also filed plans for KraneShares China Consumer Discretionary ETF, the KraneShares China Urbanization ETF and the KraneShares China Five-Year Plan ETF.

The five-year plan ETF will track a CSI index linked to Beijing's plan that plan covers a series of development initiatives the government sponsors in five-year increments for social and economic growth as well as industrial planning, according to IndexUniverse.

Exchange Traded Concepts faces immediate competition in the form of China-specific sector funds already on the market from the likes of Global X, Guggenheim and Van Eck's Market Vectors unit is also planning a major roll-out of 11 China-specific sector funds.

Overall, there are nearly 160 ETFs available to U.S. investors that offer China exposure. Exchange Traded Concepts did not disclose tickers or expense ratios for the new ETFs in the filings.