Barclays to Reduce Sector ETF Fees

Starting May 1, Barclays Global Investors plans to cut fees on certain exchange-traded funds, according to a Dow Jones report.

Already known for their low expense ratios, exchange traded funds, or ETFs, are bundles of securities that track indexes and can be traded intraday like traditional stocks.

London-based Barclay's plan was uncovered through regulatory filings submitted from its San Francisco-based unit Monday. 

Affected ETFs include those tied to the Standard & Poor's index: iShares S&P Global Energy, iShares S&P Global Technology, iShares S&P Global Financials and iShares S&P Global Healthcare. Fees on each of these funds will drop from 0.65% of assets to 0.48%.

Barclay's iShares that are linked to the Dow Jones indexes will also see their expenses slimmed, going from 0.6% to 0.48% of assets. These include the iShares Dow Jones Energy and iShares Dow Jones U.S. Utilities funds.

Similarly, iShares that track the Goldman Sachs and Nasdaq indexes will drop from 0.5% to 0.48% of assets. These include the iShares Goldman Sachs Technology and iShares Biotechnology funds.

In a separate filing, Barclays notified regulators that fees on 10 other so-called sub-sector ETFs that track Dow Jones indexes will drop to 0.48%. All changes are expected to take place in May.

Barclays manages 25 sector iShares ETFs. Together they represent $16 billion under management.

"In light of the anticipated expansion of the iShares' suite of sector funds, this new pricing better aligns with iShares' value proposition," the company said in a statement.  

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.