The fund, which will aim to provide exposure to 85% of the French equity universe, is fully replicating and physically backed, Blackrock says, purchasing and holding all 73 constituents of the underlying MSCI index. And it has a total expense ratio of 0.25%.
Tom Fekete, head of product development for iShares in EMEA said that the trend of using ETFs as a way to express a view on a specific region, country or sector is increasingly noticeable across various areas.
“The launch of the iShares MSCI France UCITS ETF offers investors access to the French equity market in a simple, low cost way. Combined with our broad and diverse European equity suite, clients have the opportunity to express tactical views on some of the largest countries in Europe quickly and effectively,” Fekete said.
iShares now offers eight single European country products, Blackrock said, including funds tracking the four largest weightings within the MSCI Europe index – UK, France, Germany and Switzerland.
In June iShares re-packaged 14 listed tracker funds for its European client base and cut fees across the range, some to as low as 0.07%
