Play New Future Financial and Technology ETF (BPAY)

The financial technology or the fintech space is largely altering the traditional banking landscape, globally. The application of innovation technology tools to provide financial services leaves customers craving for more personalized and customer-centric products.

The global fintech technologies market size was valued at $110.57 billion in 2020, and is projected to touch $698.48 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 20.3% from 2021 to 2030, per alliedmarketresearch.com.

Against this backdrop, BlackRock recently launched a fund on new future financial and technology.

Inside BPAY

The fund gives access to the trend of digital finance and seeks outperformance by accessing technology disruption around the world and across multiple areas in finance, such as payments, banking, investments, insurance and software. The fund charges 70 bps in fees.

Fidelity National Information (5.06%), Charles Schwab (5%) and global payments (4.99%) are the top three holdings of the fund. There are 38 stocks in the fund. Information technology (49.44%), Financials (46.59%) and Cash (3.97%) are the top three holdings of the fund.

How Does It Fit In a Portfolio?

The emergence of cutting-edge technologies like AI, cloud computing, big data, the IoT and machine learning is driving the fintech space. The growing popularity of smartphones, rising demand for industrial automation and the increased utilization of wireless communication are boosting the transition to digital platforms.

Apart from showing an increased interest in online shopping, customers are resorting to digital payments to clear their bills. Even, merchants and utility providers are increasingly advocating the same. Per a Statista report, digital payments are expected to stand out as the largest segment of the fintech market with a total transaction value of $1,801,103 million in 2022.

Payment services from tech titans like Google Pay, Facebook Pay, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, PayPal (PYPL) and Square Inc.’s (SQ) Cash App are the key winners amid the increasing shift to digital payments.

The combination of financial services and technology allowed providers to focus on a more customer-centric approach. According to a Market Data Forecast report, the combination is steadily improvising or replacing traditional financial services methods in several fields, such as payments, digital lending, insurance, e-commerce, banking and wealth management along with social commerce.

Any Competition?

There are quite a few ETFs in the market currently targeting the concept of fintech. These ETFs include Global X FinTech ETF FINX, ARK Fintech Innovation ETF ARKF, ETFMG Prime Mobile Payments ETF IPAY. These funds charge 68 bps, 75bps and 75 bps, respectively. In this context, the newbie charges a bit higher than its closest peers. This might act as a hurdle in BPAY in garnering investors’ assets.



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Global X FinTech ETF (FINX): ETF Research Reports
 
ETFMG Prime Mobile Payments ETF (IPAY): ETF Research Reports
 
ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF): ETF Research Reports
 
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