BlackRock moves 50 ETFs to NYSE’s rival exchanges

By Trevor Hunnicutt

NEW YORK (Reuters) – BlackRock Inc on Friday said it would move fifty of its exchange-traded funds from NYSE Arca to homes on rival trading exchanges in a move that points to more competition in the fast-growing industry.

The world’s largest asset manager and issuer of ETFs will move 30 of its iShares-brand ETFs to CBOE Holdings Inc’s Bats exchange and an additional 20 ETFs to Nasdaq Inc , the New York-based company said in a statement. BlackRock managed $1.4 trillion in ETFs on March 31.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc’s NYSE Arca exchange is home to the lion’s share of the more than 2,000 U.S.-listed ETFs, but competitors have been aggressively trying to win away issuers and traders. After the changes are made on Aug 1, iShares will still have 209 ETFs listed on NYSE Arca, the company said.

NYSE has faced scrutiny for technical glitches affecting ETFs, including a March issue that prevented some ETFs from completing an auction at the end of the day.

In a statement, Samara Cohen, Americas Head of iShares Capital Markets at BlackRock, said “a thriving market for ETFs requires a robust, resilient ecosystem, with multiple participants committed to continuous innovation and improving the client experience.”

A NYSE spokeswoman declined to comment.

ETFs are absorbing an increasing share of market activity, and listing them is valuable to exchanges hoping to win more trading volume and also sell data. More value is exchanged each day in the top ETFs like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF and iShares Russell 2000 ETF than in most stocks.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt)