IShares

Last updated
iShares
Logo-ishares 2019.svg
Product type Exchange-traded fund
Owner BlackRock
Country U.S.
MarketsWorldwide
Website www.ishares.com

iShares is a collection of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) managed by BlackRock, which acquired the brand and business from Barclays in 2009. The first iShares ETFs were known as World Equity Benchmark Shares (WEBS) but have since been rebranded. [1]

Contents

Most iShares funds track a bond or stock market index, although some are actively managed. Stock exchanges listing iShares funds include the London Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, BATS Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Mexican Stock Exchange, Toronto Stock Exchange, Australian Securities Exchange, B3 (stock exchange), and a number of European and Asian stock exchanges. iShares is the largest issuer of ETFs in the US and globally. [2] [3]

History

In 1993, State Street, in cooperation with American Stock Exchange, launched Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts (NYSE Arca :  SPY) (now the 'SPDR S&P 500'), which was traded in real time and tracked the S&P 500 index. This was the first ETF to trade in the United States, and it continues to trade to this day.[ citation needed ]

In response, Morgan Stanley launched a series of ETFs called WEBS which tracked its MSCI foreign stock market indices. WEBS, an acronym for World Equity Benchmark Shares, were developed in cooperation with Barclays Global Investors, the fund manager. Unlike the SPDR fund that was a unit investment trust, the underlying vehicle of the WEBS were mutual funds. [4]

In 2000, Barclays put a significant strategic effort behind growing the ETF market, launching over 40 new funds, branded as iShares, supported by an extensive education and marketing effort. The effort was led by Lee Kranefuss, who worked closely with the inventor of the ETF, Nate Most, at that time Chairman of the WEBs Board and an adviser to Barclays on the iShares effort. Most had retired from the American Stock Exchange some years earlier and settled in California. WEBS were soon renamed the iShares MSCI Series as part of that program.[ citation needed ]

On November 7, 2006, iShares announced the purchase of the INDEXCHANGE ETF unit of HypoVereinsbank for €240 million. This solidified the iShares position in Europe as the leading ETF provider.[ citation needed ]

Barclays added currency hedging features to the Canadian iShares, to distinguish them from US products in response to the elimination of limits on foreign holdings by Canadians in an RRSP. Barclays hedges currency changes in the Canadian - US exchange rate for the S&P 500 and the MSCI EAFE.[ citation needed ]

On March 16, 2009, Barclays confirmed that it was planning to sell iShares to CVC Capital Partners, a private equity firm that had agreed to pay more than $4 billion. [5] However, under a 45-day "go shop" clause, a later bid by BlackRock was announced on 11 June 2009 for the whole of the parent division Barclays Global Investors including iShares, in a mixed cash-stock deal worth around US$13.5 billion (37.8 million shares of common stock and US$6.6 billion in cash). [6] [ citation needed ]

iShares has increased the number of its "iShares Core" funds. [7] [8] [9] [10]

iShares is among the asset managers with the largest amount of sustainable fund flows in 2020 with $14.5 billion as of September 30, 2020. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NYSE American</span> Stock exchange located in New York City

NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known as the New York Curb Exchange.

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund that is also an exchange-traded product, i.e., it is traded on stock exchanges. ETFs own financial assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, debts, futures contracts, and/or commodities such as gold bars. The list of assets that each ETF owns, as well as their weightings, is posted on the website of the issuer daily, or quarterly in the case of active non-transparent ETFs. Many ETFs provide some level of diversification compared to owning an individual stock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BlackRock</span> American multinational investment management corporation

BlackRock, Inc. is an American multinational investment company. It is the world's largest asset manager, with $9.42 trillion in assets as of June 30, 2023. Headquartered in New York City, Blackrock has 70 offices in 30 countries, and clients in 100 countries. BlackRock is the manager of the iShares group of exchange-traded funds, and along with The Vanguard Group and State Street, it is considered to be one of the Big Three index fund managers. Its Aladdin software keeps track of investment portfolios for many major financial institutions and its BlackRock Solutions division provides financial risk management services. BlackRock is ranked 184th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MSCI</span> American financial service provider

MSCI Inc. is an American finance company headquartered in New York City. MSCI is a global provider of equity, fixed income, real estate indices, multi-asset portfolio analysis tools, ESG and climate products. It operates the MSCI World, MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) and MSCI Emerging Markets Indices among others.

The MSCI EAFE Index is a stock market index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets outside of the U.S. & Canada. It is maintained by MSCI Inc., a provider of investment decision support tools; the EAFE acronym stands for Europe, Australasia and Far East.

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) is the investment management division of State Street Corporation and the world's fourth largest asset manager, with nearly $4.14 trillion (USD) in assets under management as of 31 December 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ETF Securities</span> Australian asset management firm

ETF Securities is an asset management firm that issues exchange-traded funds (ETFs) primarily in Australia.

Gold exchange-traded products are exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds (CEFs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs) that are used to own gold as an investment. Gold exchange-traded products are traded on the major stock exchanges including the SIX Swiss Exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, the Paris Bourse, and the New York Stock Exchange. Each gold ETF, ETN, and CEF has a different structure outlined in its prospectus. Some such instruments do not necessarily hold physical gold. For example, gold ETNs generally track the price of gold using derivatives.

SPDR funds are a family of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) traded in the United States, Europe, Mexico and Asia-Pacific and managed by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA). Informally, they are also known as Spyders or Spiders. SPDR is a trademark of Standard and Poor's Financial Services LLC, a subsidiary of S&P Global. The name is an acronym for the first member of the family, the Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts, now the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF, which is designed to track the S&P 500 stock market index.

An inverse exchange-traded fund is an exchange-traded fund (ETF), traded on a public stock market, which is designed to perform as the inverse of whatever index or benchmark it is designed to track. These funds work by using short selling, trading derivatives such as futures contracts, and other leveraged investment techniques.

The S&P MidCap 400 Index, more commonly known as the S&P 400, is a stock market index from S&P Dow Jones Indices. The index serves as a gauge for the U.S. mid-cap equities sector and is the most widely followed mid-cap index. It is part of the S&P 1500, which also includes the S&P 500 for larger U.S. based companies, and the S&P 600 for smaller companies though all three indices include a handful of foreign stocks that trade on the U.S. stock exchanges.

The S&P SmallCap 600 Index is a stock market index established by S&P Global Ratings. It covers roughly the small-cap range of American stocks, using a capitalization-weighted index.

Lee Thomas Kranefuss is an American businessman, investment manager, corporate adviser, and entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invesco PowerShares</span>

Invesco PowerShares is an American boutique investment management firm based near Chicago which manages a family of exchange-traded funds or ETFs. The company has been part of Invesco, which markets the PowerShares product, since 2006.

In finance, the iPath refer to a family of exchange-traded notes (ETN) issued by Barclays. iPath ETNs are senior, unsecured debt securities of Barclays Bank PLC, covering the following asset classes: Commodities, Equity smart beta, MLPs, Sustainable investing, and Volatility.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF trust is an exchange-traded fund which trades on the NYSE Arca under the symbol SPY. SPDR is an acronym for the Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts, the former name of the ETF. It is designed to track the S&P 500 stock market index. This fund is the largest and oldest ETF in the world. SPDR is a trademark of Standard and Poor's Financial Services LLC, a subsidiary of S&P Global. The ETF's CUSIP is 78462F103 and its ISIN is US78462F1030. The trustee of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust is State Street Bank and Trust Company. The fund has a net expense ratio of 0.0945%.

Hayne Leland is an economist and professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to becoming emeritus, he was the Arno Rayner Professor of Finance at the Haas School of Business. Before joining Berkeley, Leland was an assistant professor in economics at Stanford University, and he has held visiting professorships at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Cambridge. He received his A.B. from Harvard College, followed by an M.Sc.(Econ) at the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. He received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Paris (Dauphine) in 2007.

References

  1. ↑ "What are iShares? - Herold's Financial Dictionary". www.financial-dictionary.info. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  2. ↑ Morgan Stanley research, May 2006
  3. ↑ Wagler, Benjamin (2012-09-17). "Ballast". ballastmag.com. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
  4. ↑ Gastineau, Gary (2002). The Exchange-Traded Funds Manual. John Wiley and Sons. p. 35. ISBN   0-471-22092-2 . Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  5. ↑ BBC News (2009-03-16). Barclays shares up on sales talk. BBC News, 16 March 2009. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7945470.stm.
  6. ↑ Adams, John (June 12, 2009). "Barclays sells the family silver". Investors Chronicle. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  7. ↑ Rawson, Michael (March 17, 2013). "Just How 'Core' Is iShares' 'Core' Series of ETFs?".
  8. ↑ Goldsborough, Robert (June 10, 2014). "BlackRock Broadens Its iShares Core Lineup".
  9. ↑ BlackRock Cuts Europe ETF Fees in Race With Vanguard for Assets - Bloomberg Bloomberg
  10. ↑ "iShares Core ETFs Gain Institutional Fans - Yahoo Finance". Yahoo Finance. May 12, 2014.
  11. ↑ Hale, Jon (October 29, 2020). "Sustainability Matters: U.S. Investors Continue to Endorse Sustainable Investing". Morningstar.com. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.