BlackRock Licenses MSCI Factor Indexes for New iShares Factor ETF Series launched ..
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MSCI Inc. a leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, announced today that BlackRock has licensed four MSCI Factor Indexes for its new iShares Factor ETF series which was launched today:
iShares MSCI World Value Factor UCITS ETF
IShares MSCI World Size Factor UCITS ETF
iShares MSCI World Momentum Factor UCITS ETF
iShares MSCI World Quality Factor UCITS ETF
These new ETFs complement iShares’ existing suite of Smart Beta ETFs which includes a range of minimum volatility ETFs based on the MSCI Minimum Volatility Indexes.
“We are pleased to enter into these licenses with MSCI, one of the world’s most well-established index providers,” said Sara Shores, Global Head of Smart Beta for BlackRock. “Through the iShares Factor ETFs, investors can now access sources of potential additional return in a passively implemented portfolio. The iShares Factor ETFs are an important part of our Smart Beta toolkit for investors: complementing our minimum volatility products, our new Factor funds allow investors to emphasize specific, high conviction investment views or construct a broadly diversified portfolio along factor dimensions with the goal of outperforming the broad equity market.”
“We are delighted to have licensed our complete family of MSCI Factor Indexes to BlackRock for their new iShares ETF Factor series,” said Deborah Yang, Head of MSCI’s index business in EMEA and India. “Built on a solid research framework and leveraging 40 years of factor expertise, the MSCI Factor Indexes are a prime example of how MSCI’s innovative approach to index construction helps investors address their increasingly sophisticated investment needs.”
Equity factor investing was pioneered in the 1970s based on research, data and analytics created by Barra – today an MSCI company. In recent years, MSCI has developed a range of Factor Indexes that provide investors with a basis for implementing a transparent and efficient passive approach to seeking the excess returns historically obtained over long time horizons through active factor investing. In 2008, MSCI introduced the industry’s first Minimum Volatility Index. Today, more than USD 100 billion in assets are benchmarked to the MSCI Factor Indexes1.
With over 650 ETFs2 tracking MSCI indexes globally, more ETFs track MSCI’s indexes than those of any other index provider. In a 2013 report, Greenwich Associates named MSCI the “benchmark of choice” for international equity ETFs3.
1 As of June 30, 2014 and reported as of September 30, 2014, based on eVestment, Lipper, Morningstar, Bloomberg and MSCI data
2 Data as of June 30, 2014, calculated by aggregating the number of share classes of all exchange traded funds tracking an MSCI index, as identified by separate Bloomberg tickers. Only primary listings, and not cross-listings, are counted
3 Greenwich Report “Institutional Investors’ Relationship with ETFs Deepens”, May 2013, Greenwich Associates
Source: ETFWorld.co.uk
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