iShares sounds gong for ETF launch

iShares, the exchange-traded funds offering of BlackRock (ticker symbol: BLK), listed its iShares Euro Stoxx 50 ex-Financials UCITS ETF (EXFN) on the Amsterdam market of Euronext. This fund is the first ETF to come to market in continental Europe using an international security structure, where settlement of transactions is exclusively at Euroclear Bank – the Brussels-based international central securities depository (ICSD).Head of iShares The Netherlands, Gert-Jan Verhagen, sounds the gong.

The newly listed iShares EURO STOXX 50 ex-Financials UCITS ETF is a physically replicating fund which invests in blue chip stocks from 12 eurozone countries, while excluding companies from the financial sector, potentially providing investors with a less volatile exposure to Eurozone equities. The fund has a total expense ratio of 20 basis points.

The newly listed ETF follows a successful year of new listings on Euronext’s ETF market in 2013. Euronext reported growth in new ETF listings of 76% versus 2012, with a total of 51 listings on its European market totalling 564 ETFs. In Amsterdam, the growth in new ETFs was up by 223% compared to 2012, totalling 127 ETFs.

For more information: www.blackrock.nl

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