BlackRock has reduced prices on its iShares Core Series range for European investors, just a week after Fidelity Worldwide Investment cut prices on its own core range of passives.
The revamped range consists of nine equity exchange-traded funds and five fixed income ETFs. The firm has trimmed prices on several funds, with the total expenses ratio falling from 48 basis points to 20 for the Japan and Pacific ex Japan funds, and from 40 to 20 for the World fund.
The FTSE 100, Euro Stoxx and S&P 500 funds have also seen their prices cut.
BlackRock Europe Middle East and Asia head of iShares Rachel Lord said : “ETFs are coming of age in Europe. The industry is at a tipping point for mass market usage. What started as a tool for institutions has now been adopted by a broad spectrum of investors.
“We are seeing a shift in usage as passive investments increasingly move to the core of client portfolios and investors use them to build low cost and diversified solutions for the long term.”
The European ETF industry has grown by 23% annually over the past five years, according to BlackRock research. The firm is targeting financial intermediaries looking for long-term positions to form the basis of their clients’ portfolios.
However, it faces tough competition from the likes of Fidelity which last week cut prices on some of its index funds to as low as 7 basis points.
The European iShares Core Series follows the launch of a similar Core series in the U.S. in 2012 and the Canadian series launched in March 2014.
