Launched on June 19, 2006, the State Street SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE Quick QuoteKRE - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Financials - Regional Banks segment of the equity market.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways 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 5, placing it in top 31%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $4.24 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Financials - Regional Banks segment of the equity market. KRE seeks to match the performance of the S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index represents the regional banks segment of the S&P Total Market Index.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.17%.

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, Popular Inc (BPOP) accounts for about 1.56% of total assets, followed by Flagstar Bank Na (FLG) and Zions Bancorp Na (ZION).

The top 10 holdings account for about 15.23% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF return is roughly 12.41% and it's up approximately 31.11% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 06/17/2026), respectively. KRE has traded between $56.53 and $73.63 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.84 and standard deviation of 27.84% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 151 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

State Street SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. KRE, then, is not the best option for investors seeking exposure to the Financials ETFs segment of the market. However, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.

Invesco Bloomberg Financial Data Providers ETF (FDIQ) tracks BLOOMBERG FINANCIAL DATA PROVIDERS INDEX and the iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF (IAT) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks Index. Invesco Bloomberg Financial Data Providers ETF has $49.93 million in assets, iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF has $628.57 million. FDIQ has an expense ratio of 0.35%, and IAT charges 0.38%.

Bottom Line

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