BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, on Thursday said it has expanded its U.S. Megatrends lineup with the launch of the BlackRock Future Financial and Technology ETF.
Actively managed by BlackRock's fundamental equity franchise, the exchange-traded fund seeks to invest in companies whose technologies are driving disruption within the financial services industry, a BlackRock spokeswoman said.
The ETF, which has the ticker symbol BPAY, trades on the NYSE Arca exchange and has a 0.70% expense ratio, she said.
Megatrends are "the long-term, transformational forces" driving the global economy and society, according to BlackRock's website.
In the U.S. alone, fintech use increased by 30% during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Vasco Moreno, the fund's lead portfolio manager, in a news release BlackRock issued Thursday.
"Through BPAY, investors are granted direct access to global companies that are driving the next leg of growth and leading the digital revolution in areas across the entire value chain such as payment systems, banking, investments, lending, and insurance and software," Mr. Moreno said.
The new fund is the sixth active ETF in BlackRock's U.S. Megatrends platform and the fifth from BlackRock's fundamental equity franchise, the spokeswoman said.
BlackRock's U.S. Megatrends suite, which includes both actively managed and index ETFs, now consists of 22 ETFs, which had assets under management totaling $17.2 billion as of Wednesday, she said.
BlackRock had $8.49 trillion in assets under management as of June 30.
