iShares Planning Large ETF Expansion

BlackRock's BLK iShares, already by far the largest ETF issuer in the world, could be looking to expand its product lineup in a major way. Earlier this week, iShares filed plans for 10 new ETFs, bringing its pipeline of potential new additions to 41. The 10 funds iShares filed for this week include new funds as well as some that expand on currently existing ETFs. iShares filed plans for the following ETFs: The iShares MSCI ACWI Investable Market Index Fund, iShares MSCI ACWI ex US Investable Market Index Fund, iShares MSCI EAFE Investable Market Index Fund, iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index Fund, iShares MSCI EFM Africa ex South Africa Index Fund, iShares MSCI GCC Countries ex Saudi Arabia Index Fund, iShares Barclays Global Aggregate ex USD Bond Fund, iShares Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Fund, iShares Barclays 1-5 Year Government/Credit Bond Fund and the iShares MSCI USA High Dividend Yield Index Fund. The iShares MSCI Investable Market Index Fund would be a broader fund than the wildly popular iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund EEM. EEM, which has over $32 billion in assets under management, is the second-largest emerging markets ETF. That fund focuses more on mid- and large-cap names while the investable market play would offer exposure to more stocks across more capitalization spectrums. The iShares ACWI Investable Market Index Fund would be a larger version of the iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund ACWI. ACWI debuted in 2008 and now has almost $2.8 billion in AUM. The iShares MSCI ACWI ex US Investable Market Index Fund would complement the The iShares MSCI ACWI ex US Index Fund ACWX, which has $1.1 billion in AUM. The iShares MSCI EAFE Investable Market Index Fund would expand on the $34.4 billion iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund EFA. The fund invests in equities of all market-capitalization tiers across 22 developed markets, according to Index Universe. Tickers and expense ratios were not included in the filings. iShares had 262 ETFs with $492.1 billion in AUM at the end of July, according to ETF Industry Association Data.