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Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF (IAI)?

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The iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF (IAI - Free Report) was launched on May 1, 2006, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Financials - Brokers/ Capital markets segment of the equity market.

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are 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 - Brokers/ Capital markets is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 6, placing it in top 38%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $1.39 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Financials - Brokers/ Capital markets segment of the equity market. IAI seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Investment Services Index before fees and expenses.

The Dow Jones U.S. Select Investment Services Index measures the performance of the investment services 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 1.07%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, 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, Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS) accounts for about 18.67% of total assets, followed by Morgan Stanley (MS) and Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW).

The top 10 holdings account for about 61.92% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 0.83% and was up about 16.52% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 06/10/2026), respectively. IAI has traded between $154.06 and $190.4 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.08 and standard deviation of 19.82% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 39 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. IAI, then, is not a suitable option for investors seeking exposure to the Financials ETFs segment of the market. However, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.

State Street SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF (KCE) tracks S&P Capital Markets Select Industry Index. The fund has $440.09 million in assets. KCE has an expense ratio of 0.35%.

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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