The addition of these funds complements BlackRock’s local suite of portfolio building blocks and assists Australian investors to embed sustainability considerations into their portfolios.

The three funds are the iShares Core MSCI Australia ESG Leaders ETF (IESG), iShares Core MSCI World Ex Australia ESG Leaders ETF (IWLD) and iShares Core MSCI World ex Australia ESG Leaders (AUD Hedged) ETF (IHWL).

Leveraging MSCI’s Leaders ESG best-in-class methodology coupled with its rigorous ethical, climate and governance-based exclusions, the iShares Core MSCI Australia ESG Leaders ETF (IESG) seeks to provide investors with targeted exposures to companies with improved sustainability credentials relative to their sector peers within the small, mid-, and large-cap segments of the Australian market. Priced competitively at 9 basis points (bps), IESG is designed for Australian investors seeking Australian equity index exposure with an ESG focus.

Similarly, the ESG enhancements made to the iShares Core MSCI World ex Australia ESG Leaders ETFs –IWLD and IHWL aim to provide investors with broadly diversified international equity exposure as well as improved sustainability credentials relative to their peers. Additionally, the change to the structures of IWLD and IHWL seeks to minimise tracking error. The management fee of both funds is unchanged at 9bps and 12bps (for the AUD hedged version) respectively, in line with BlackRock’s commitment to make investing in sustainability more accessible and affordable for all Australians.

In further endorsement of the iShares Core MSCI World ex Australia ESG Leaders ETFs –IWLD and IHWL, both funds maintained their Recommended ratings from Zenith Investment Partners.

James Kingston, Head of iShares Australasia, said: “ESG is becoming a critical consideration for our clients in constructing portfolios, including incorporating their sustainability goals as well as improving overall portfolio resilience.

“ETFs have a pivotal role to play in being the foundational building blocks for investors to integrate sustainability into their portfolios in a cost-effective manner.

“Our local iShares ESG ETF suite aims to assist more Australian investors in fulfilling both their financial and sustainability-related investment goals and is part of BlackRock’s broader commitment to make sustainability our standard of investing.”

About MSCI Custom ESG Leaders Indexes

The funds are benchmarked to the MSCI Australia IMI Custom ESG Leaders Index and the MSCI World ex Australia Custom ESG Leaders Index which are designed to represent the performance of companies with high ESG ratings relative to their sector peers, while excluding companies associated with controversial businesses or exposed to climate risk.

These two indexes respectively achieved a 9% and 11% improvement in ESG Score, driven by the best-in-class approach to ESG selection; and a 56% and 60% reduction in carbon emissions, driven by excluding companies exposed to climate risk.

Simone Bouch, Head of Australia and New Zealand Client Coverage at MSCI, said: “In the transition towards a sustainable economy, it is imperative that all investors have access to ESG and climate solutions, empowering them to make better investment decisions. MSCI is very proud to work with BlackRock to play a critical role in making sustainability more accessible to Australian investors.”

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The combining of the two functions enables the newly unified client-facing team to adopt a holistic solution-based approach in its delivery of BlackRock’s diverse platform and global capabilities to clients. These efforts will be led by three long-tenured leaders within the Australian client-facing team.

Chantal Giles has been appointed to an expanded role of Head of iShares Wealth (iSW) Australasia, leading a broad team responsible for the distribution of BlackRock’s alpha-seeking strategies, index and iShares ETF offerings, as well as whole portfolio services to our wealth management, bank and platform clients in the region.

From July 1, James Kingston will take on the role of Head of iShares Australasia, in addition to his responsibility as Head of APAC Portfolio Analysis & Solutions (BPAS). James will continue to lead the APAC BPAS team to help clients build multi-asset outcome-focused solutions that match their desired long-term objectives, as well as drive the iShares strategy locally.

Christian Obrist who has held the role of Head of iShares Australasia for three successful years has been promoted to lead iShares Distribution Asia ex-Japan based in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Eleanor Menniti will assume the newly created role of Head of Client Product Strategy and Consultant Relations, leading the distribution strategy behind the design and delivery of BlackRock’s full set of product capabilities and solutions to the Australian wealth market, as well as managing a team responsible for key relationships with retail asset consultants and research houses.

Jason Collins, Head of Client Business Australasia, said: “As we evolve our business to reflect changing market dynamics and client needs, we are pleased to be able to promote from within and expand the roles of our senior leaders to deliver bespoke solutions to our clients.

“Our ability to work with clients across a range of investment types – index, active, multi-asset and alternatives – and deliver this via various structures, gives BlackRock a unique ability to partner with firms as they seek to curate and provide leading investment options to their end clients.

Rimmo Jolly, Head of iShares Asia Pacific, said: “It’s exciting to see clients across the region increasingly turning to BlackRock to be their partner of choice for iShares ETFs as portfolio building blocks and whole portfolio solutions.

“We are focused on evolving the delivery of our iShares platform to better meet client needs and look forward to engaging more deeply with clients in Australia.”

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