iShares

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IShares logo ("iShares by BlackRock")

iShares (also iShares by BlackRock ) are a category of exchange traded funds (English exchange-traded fund , ETF ), the American US from the fund company BlackRock managed.

With a managed assets totaling about 1.6 trillion US dollars in more than 700 funds (as of September 2017) iShares one of the largest ETF providers and claims to have a dominant position in the global ETF market. In October 2016, according to the company, 36.9% of all exchange-traded ETF assets worldwide were invested in iShares funds.

history

IShares BlackRock Logo old version.jpg
IShares by BlackRock Logo.png


Older logos from iShares

ETF products under the name iShares were launched in 2000 by the British financial company Barclays . As early as 2003, the iShares fund's assets under management surpassed that of State Street's competitor SPDR .

In 2009, the US fund company BlackRock took over the asset management company Barclays Global Investors (BGI) from Barclays for $ 13.5 billion, which also included the iShares division . Even then, iShares was one of the largest providers of ETFs, especially index funds . But other banks and their asset management companies, for example Deutsche Bank in 2007 with its own ETF division db X-trackers , tried to conquer the ETF market and attack the market leader iShares with their own ETF products.

In 2017, iShares was one of the largest ETF providers worldwide, alongside State Street 's Vanguard and SPDR, with iShares' market share of around 37% being twice as large as that of the second largest provider Vanguard with a market share of 18% and State Street with 14 %. The three largest ETF providers have a total market share of around 70% and manage a total of almost four trillion US dollars.

In Europe, iShares is also one of the largest providers of ETFs in terms of assets under management and is thus ahead of db X-trackers from Deutsche Bank and its asset management company Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM), Lyxor from Société Générale , Vanguard , Amundi , UBS and SPDR of State Street or its asset management , State Street Global Advisors (SSGA).

One of the main reasons for the rapid growth of iShares was a first-party advantage. Since iShares was one of the first to enter the ETF market, their funds have already been able to build up assets and trading volume, whereas newly added ETF providers had to compete with these established funds.

Products

All iShares funds are index funds that are linked to the performance of the underlying index, for example the DAX , the S&P 500 or the MSCI indices . The majority of these index funds are managed exclusively passively, while others also pursue a strategy such as value investing or minimum volatility . In Europe, almost all index funds are physically replicating funds that actually ( physically ) own the securities contained in the underlying index . The share of swap ETFs on the European market is increasingly shrinking.

criticism

Due to the rapid growth of the ETF industry in general, and especially of the individual iShares funds, iShares managed assets of around 1.2 trillion US dollars as of February 2017. A large part of the assets under management is located in physically replicating index funds, which invest primarily in the asset class of stocks . In the case of physically replicating funds, due to the high level of assets under management, a relatively large proportion of shares in individual companies must be acquired in order to be able to adequately replicate the underlying index. As a result, iShares is now Germany's largest shareholder and has a major influence on companies. IShares is also the largest single shareholder in many German companies.

In the study Who Is Afraid of BlackRock? (English Who's Afraid of Black Rock? ) Scientists warn warning that investors are nervous when individual investors keep large blocks of shares, because this makes it difficult to sell the securities due to lack of liquidity of the markets in a crisis. "BlackRock is something like the" elephant in the pond ", which could potentially make the boat" rock "."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c About iShares. In: ishares.com. BlackRock Advisors (UK) Limited, February 1, 2017, accessed August 22, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Price war broke out among index funds. In: welt.de. Die Welt , WeltN24 GmbH, October 19, 2010, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  3. Financial company: Blackrock buys Barclays wealth management company. In: handelsblatt.com. Handelsblatt GmbH , June 12, 2009, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  4. BlackRock takes over Barclays Global Investors: A giant in asset management. In: nzz.ch. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , June 13, 2009, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  5. Economy and finance: Deutsche Bank wants to attack market leader iShares in index funds. In: handelsblatt.com. Handelsblatt GmbH, December 9, 2013, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  6. a b The Three Largest Players Have A 70% Market Share In $ 4 Trillion Global ETF Industry. In: forbes.com. Forbes Inc. , May 17, 2017, accessed August 22, 2017 .
  7. Market share of largest Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) providers worldwide in 2016. In: statista.com. Statista , Inc., 2016, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  8. The balance sheet of the largest ETF providers. In: morningstar.de. Morningstar Deutschland GmbH, November 1, 2016, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  9. a b Deutsche Bank and Co .: All against the ETF giant Blackrock. In: handelsblatt.com. Handelsblatt GmbH, May 7, 2017, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  10. The secret farewell to swap ETFs. In: morningstar.de. Morningstar Deutschland GmbH, November 7, 2013, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  11. Blackrock: The largest shareholder in Germany. In: handelsblatt.com. Handelsblatt GmbH, January 20, 2011, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  12. Dax shares: This is how many shares BlackRock holds in German companies. In: welt.de. WeltN24 GmbH, November 6, 2016, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  13. Who Is Afraid of BlackRock? by Massimo Massa, David Schumacher, Yan Wang. In: ssrn.com. Social Science Research Network , May 29, 2016, accessed on August 22, 2017 .
  14. Blackrock: The fear of the black giant. In: spiegel.de. SPIEGEL ONLINE GmbH , September 11, 2015, accessed on August 22, 2017 .