(Bloomberg) -- NYSE Arca is losing the primary listing for 50 BlackRock Inc. exchange-traded funds in a victory for competitors attempting to challenge the dominant venue for ETFs.
The asset manager is moving the listing of 30 of its U.S. iShares-branded funds to Bats, a unit of CBOE Holdings Inc., and 20 to Nasdaq Inc., according to a statement Friday. The changes will take effect on or about Aug. 1, leaving 209 of BlackRock's U.S. iShares ETFs with primary listings on NYSE Arca.
The move is a win for rival exchange groups seeking to pry open NYSE's stranglehold on ETF listings. NYSE Arca lists the vast majority of U.S. ETFs, worth $2.7 trillion in value, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. But the exchange has suffered some recent setbacks, including a technical glitch in March that rattled traders.
A wild trading session on Aug. 24, 2015, also led asset managers to explore diversifying their ETF listing venues. NYSE made changes to its rules in the wake of that fraught experience, including removing a rule that BlackRock said contributed to the mayhem.
“Diversification is an important element of iShares listing strategy,” Samara Cohen, Americas head of iShares Capital Markets at BlackRock, said in the statement.
Kristen Kaus, a spokeswoman for NYSE, a unit of Intercontinental Exchange Inc., declined to comment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Annie Massa in New York at amassa12@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net, Eric J. Weiner, Brendan Walsh
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