PowerShares Waives Unitary Fee on New KBW Index ETFs

PowerShares, the fourth-largest U.S. ETF issuer, announced today that it will waive its unitary fee for the four new ETFs based on Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. (KBW) indexes that will begin trading on Tuesday Nov. 1, 2011. The unitary fee is the fee charged by fund sponsors to cover expenses related to managing the portfolio. PowerShares said the unitary fee on the four funds will be waived through Feb. 1, 2012. The PowerShares KBW Bank Portfolio will trade under the ticker “KBWB” and be based on the KBW Bank Index while the PowerShares KBW Regional Banking Portfolio will trade under the ticker “KBWR” and be based on the KBW Regional Banking Index. PowerShares will also introduce the KBW Capital Markets Portfolio under the ticker “KBWC.” That ETF will track the KBW Capital Markets Index. The The PowerShares KBW Insurance Portfolio will trade with the ticker “KBWI” and track the KBW Insurance Index. The four indexes were previously used for ETFs sponsored by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the second-largest U.S. ETF issuer. SSgA dropped the KBW indexes in favor of Standard & Poor's indexes. "Financial services is the second largest sector in the S&P 500, accounting for 16% of the index's overall weight, and targeted allocation to this sector should be considered a core part of any diversified portfolio," said Frederick Cannon, director of research at KBW, in a statement. "With these new ETFs, investors can target opportunities in specific sub-sectors, taking advantage of a changing equity environment in which many companies are undervalued and financials are becoming more attractive." PowerShares had 116 ETFs with $38.9 billion in assets under management at the end of September, according to data from the National Stock Exchange. The firm is a unit of Invesco IVZ.