BlackRock has introduced a US large and mid-cap ETF in which only ESG sector leaders are eligible for inclusion.
The ETF will trade on the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse and Boerse Frankfurt and debuts with a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.12%.
The iShares MSCI USA Leaders UCITS ETF (USLD) provides exposure to large and mid-cap stocks in the MSCI USA index, however only those with a high ESG rating relative to industry peers can be included.
Companies from sectors that are deemed to violate the principles of the UN Global Compact, including tobacco, weapons and thermal coal, will be excluded.
A spokesperson for BlackRock said: “We continually seek to broaden the choice we offer clients. The fund provides access to US equities and aims for sector neutrality, with a diversified and broad exposure while retaining a low tracking error to the parent MSCI index.”
Shortly after its iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (CSPX) became the first ETF in Europe to reach the $100bn assets under management milestone, BlackRock launched two swap-based ETFs covering US equities having initially been sceptical about synthetic replication.
