If you're interested in broad exposure to the Financials - Broad segment of the equity market, look no further than the iShares U.S. Financials ETF (IYF), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on May 22, 2000.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Financials - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 4, placing it in top 25%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $4.32 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Financials - Broad segment of the equity market. IYF seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Financials Index before fees and expenses.

The Russell 1000 Financials 40 Act 15/22.5 Daily Capped Index measures the performance of the financial sector of the U.S. equity market.

Costs

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.38%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.4%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector -- about 99.4% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Jpmorgan Chase & Co (JPM) accounts for about 11.3% of total assets, followed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc Class B (BRK.B) and Bank Of America (BAC).

The top 10 holdings account for about 48.83% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the iShares U.S. Financials ETF has added roughly 7.26% so far, and it's up approximately 10.86% over the last 12 months (as of 08/31/2026). IYF has traded between $113.98 and $138.51 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.89 and standard deviation of 16.41% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 147 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

iShares U.S. Financials ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IYF is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Financials ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

Vanguard Financials Index Fund ETF Shares (VFH) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Financials 25/50 Index and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) tracks Financial Select Sector Index. Vanguard Financials Index Fund ETF Shares has $13.91 billion in assets, State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $56.00 billion. VFH has an expense ratio of 0.09%, and XLF charges 0.08%.

Bottom Line

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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iShares U.S. Financials ETF (IYF): ETF Research Reports

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research