IAI vs KIE

IAICiShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF

KIEAState Street SPDR S&P Insurance ETF

In short

IAI Most financials ETFs are mostly banks and insurers. IAI skips that and buys the toll booths: exchanges, brokerages and investment banks, about 40 names on the fee-and-commission side of Wall Street.

KIE Most financial-sector funds are banks with a side of insurance. KIE flips it: roughly 50 insurance stocks and nothing else, running since 2005 at a price below the typical broad-financials fund.

Stated mandate

IAI The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. equities in the investment services sector. It is designed to provide targeted exposure to U.S. investment banks, brokerages, and exchanges.

KIE The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return performance of the S&P Insurance Select Industry Index.

Why people hold it

• IAI At 0.37%, it costs less than the typical broad financials fund (median 0.44%) and less than its own iShares broad-sector sibling IYF at 0.38%.
• Targeted by design: U.S. investment banks, brokerages and exchanges, the slice that broad sector funds bury under lenders and insurers.ishares.com
• Live since 2006, so it has traded through the financial crisis and everything since. A multi-billion-dollar iShares fund that pays quarterly.

• KIE 0.35% a year, under the 0.44% median for its financials peer group, and modest for a single-industry slice.
• Trading since 2005, through the financial crisis and every rate cycle since.
• One of the more actively traded funds in its category, which typically shows up as tighter bid-ask spreads for the people buying it.
• Roughly 50 insurance names, few enough to actually read the holdings list, with distributions paid quarterly.ssga.com

Worth knowing

• IAI About 40 holdings. A handful of big exchanges and brokers drive most of the ride, and concentration cuts both ways.
• Capital-markets revenue tracks trading volumes, IPOs and deal flow, and the fund sits at the more volatile end of its financials peer group.
• Whole-sector coverage is cheaper: XLF and VFH run under 0.10%. The narrow slice carries a higher fee.

• KIE Broad financials rivals like XLF and VFH charge closer to 0.08%. The insurance-only focus costs extra.
• One industry, about 50 stocks: catastrophe losses, reserve surprises and rate swings hit the whole basket at once.
• Insurance is a slice of the financial sector, not a stand-in for it. Banks, exchanges and payment networks sit outside this index.ssga.com

Full IAI profile⁠

Full KIE profile⁠