Odd Timing: PowerShares Files Plans For 4 Financial Services ETFs

Invesco's IVZ PowerShares, the fourth-largest U.S. ETF issuer, has filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission for four new ETFs focusing on the financial services sector, a move that might be considered odd as the environment for financial services stocks is less than welcoming. The four ETFs, which would trade on the New York Stock Exchange, would be the PowerShares Bank Portfolio, the PowerShares Regional Banking Portfolio, PowerShares Capital Markets Portfolio and the PowerShares Insurance Portfolio. While the filing did not disclose tickers or expense ratios for the new ETFs, PowerShares did note the banking ETF would focus on larger money-center banks while the regional offering will focus on mid-cap regional banks and thrifts. All four ETFs would face plenty of existing competition as there are over 40 ETFs listed on U.S. exchanges that offer exposure to the financial services sector, making the group one of the largest in terms of ETF representation. Including dividend plays and preferred ETFs, PowerShares offers six financial services ETFs of its own. That group includes the PowerShares S&P SmallCap Financials Portfolio PSCF and the PowerShares Dynamic Financial Portfolio PFI. PowerShares had 114 ETFs with almost $46.2 billion in assets under management at the end of July, according to data from the National Stock Exchange.