BlackRock to Open 14 ETFs Mimicking Yield of Currencies
BlackRock Inc. (BLK), the world’s largest provider of exchange-traded funds, is planning 14 ETFs to allow clients to bet on currencies including the euro, the Australian dollar and the Chinese renminbi.
The ETFs include iShares Australian Dollar Cash Rate Fund, iShares Chinese Offshore Renminbi Cash Rate Fund and iShares Euro Cash Rate Fund, according to a filing yesterday by the New York-based asset manager with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The funds will invest in a combination of short-term money market securities denominated in U.S. dollars and spot foreign exchange contracts to replicate the daily yield of a currency.
BlackRock is seeking to appeal to investors who want to benefit from rising foreign currencies while seeking liquidity. Spot currency contracts are those that are generally required to be settled in two business days.
BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, drew $23.5 billion into its iShares ETFs this year. Vanguard Group Inc.’s ETFs have increased their market share this year as investors flocked to its low-cost products. BlackRock’s U.S. market share in the ETF business fell 1.4 percentage points to about 41 percent, compared with an increase of 1.7 percentage points for Vanguard to 18 percent, according to a report by State Street Global Advisors.
The new ETF filing was reported earlier today by Reuters. Mark Lake, a spokesman for Blackrock, which manages $3.56 trillion in assets, declined to comment on the filing.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alexis Leondis in New York at aleondis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net
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