The iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF (IAT Quick QuoteIAT - Free Report) was launched on May 1, 2006, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Financials - Regional Banks segment of the equity market.

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Financials - Regional Banks is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 2, placing it in top 13%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $562.52 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Financials - Regional Banks segment of the equity market. IAT seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks Index before fees and expenses.

The Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks Index is a free-float adjusted market capitalization-weighted index which measures the performance of the regional bank sub-sector of the U.S. equity market.

Costs

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

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 2.69%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. 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 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Us Bancorp (USB) accounts for about 13.81% of total assets, followed by Pnc Financial Services Group Inc (PNC) and Truist Financial Corp (TFC).

The top 10 holdings account for about 68.12% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, IAT has gained about 8.7%, and is down about 0.03% in the last one year (as of 12/08/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $39.71 and $54.5.

The ETF has a beta of 0.95 and standard deviation of 29.76% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 38 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, IAT is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Financials ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF (KBWR) tracks KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index and the State Street SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) tracks S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index. Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF has $51.53 million in assets, State Street SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF has $3.79 billion. KBWR has an expense ratio of 0.35%, and KRE charges 0.35%.

Bottom Line

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