Credit Suisse AG announced its intent to delist and suspend further issuance of the VelocityShares 3x Inverse Crude Oil ETN (DWTI) and the VelocityShares 3x Long Crude Oil ETN (UWTI) effective December 8, 2016, becoming the largest closure in history.
However, the exchange-traded notes will not be called, redeemed, or liquidated. Therefore, it is imperative that owners of DWTI or UWTI sell their holdings by December 8 to avoid trying to do so in the extremely illiquid over-the-counter market.
At the end of October, DWTI had $393 million in assets and UWTI held $1.11 billion of investments. The UWTI closure will make it the largest on record, surpassing the $600 billion closure of the PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Long ETN (former ticker: DXO) back in September 2009. However, DB and PowerShares took the shareholder-friendly step of redeeming the notes and returning the owner’s money.
This is not the first time Credit Suisse has stiffed owners of its ETNs. Back in March 2009, the firm delisted three ETNs without liquidation. Credit Suisse continued to hold the money and collect fees for more than four years. It did not liquidate the ETNs until April 2013.
Disclosure: Author has no positions in any of the securities, companies, or ETF sponsors mentioned. No income, revenue, or other compensation (either directly or indirectly) is received from, or on behalf of, any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.