iShares FinTech Active ETF

iShares FinTech Active ETF (BPAY) is an actively managed BlackRock fund holding fintech (financial technology) stocks worldwide, such as Global Payments, Capital One, Chime and Klarna. Its 0.55% expense ratio (annual fee), after a fee waiver, is below the 0.62% average of similar funds. But it is tiny, with about $9.6 million in assets as of July 31, 2026, and lost 21.7% in the year to October 27, 2026.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, BPAY returned -21.7%, 3rd of 6 among similar funds.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2025 (+8.4%); its best was 2024 (+17.3%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 33.7% (Jul 25, 2025 to Mar 27, 2026), not yet recovered.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 39 securities; the ten largest made up 36.54% of assets, and 11.43% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $0.00 (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +3.78%, +2.14%, +3.49%.

BPAY doesn't track an index. BlackRock's managers choose which stocks to hold and how much of each, aiming to maximize total return (price gains plus dividends). At least 80% of net assets goes to fintech stocks or related derivatives. Fintech here means financial and tech companies that use technology to change or automate financial services, in areas such as payment processing, consumer finance, banking, insurance, exchanges and software.

The fund can own companies of any size worldwide, including emerging markets, in part through American Depositary Receipts (US-traded certificates representing foreign shares). It doesn't plan to hold bitcoin or ether directly, but may own companies that use blockchain or hold crypto. Being “non-diversified,” it can put more into single companies than diversified funds. As of July 31, 2026, it held 39 stocks; the top 10 made up 36.5%, led by Global Payments (4.5%), Capital One (4.1%) and Chime (3.8%). About 56% was in US companies.

It may use US exchange-traded futures (contracts to trade a stock or index later at a set price) to boost returns, hedge or manage cash; its July 31, 2026, report showed none. Turnover, roughly the share of the portfolio replaced in a year, was 84%, per the prospectus. Trading adds costs beyond the expense ratio and can create taxable capital gains payouts.

• BPAY charges 0.55% a year, versus an average of 0.62% for the similar funds below (3rd of 6, cheapest first).
• Of that, 0.66% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
• The fee includes a 0.11% waiver from the adviser, which may end.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $56 in the first year and $812 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

A tiny, non-diversified, actively managed fund of 39 fintech stocks that fell 33.7% from its July 2025 peak fits as a small, higher-risk add-on, not a foundation.

BPAY adds concentrated fintech exposure, with sharp swings. Launched in August 2022, it has no record through the 2008 crisis or the 2020 crash and missed most of the 2022 bear market. Its worst full calendar year, 2025, gained about 8.4%, but that hides a 33.7% drop from July 25, 2025, to March 27, 2026, still unrecovered as of October 27, 2026. Anyone drawing cash then would have cashed out at prices well below the peak.

Its trailing yield (the past year's payouts divided by price) was 7.68% as of October 27, 2026, paid twice a year; that's high for a stock fund, and payouts may not repeat. At a 0.55% expense ratio, the SEC's standard $10,000 example shows costs of $56 after one year and $812 after 10 years. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan needs to look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports.