Invesco prepares for financials ETFs

Invesco Powershares has agreed an exclusive deal with Keefe, Bruyette and Woods (KBW) for four financial services indexes.

The ETF provider has licensed indexes covering financial services, real estate investment trusts (REITs), property and the casualty insurance market sectors.

Invesco hopes to have the first ETFs from the  Indexes ready by the end of 2010.

John Howard, co-head of research at KBW, says: “There are many uncorrelated business risks with the financial services sector, this set of indexes will provide investors easier access to hedge investments in specific sub-sectors.”

The four underlying indexes are the Global ex-U.S Financial Sector, Property and Casualty Index, Premium Yield Equity REIT and Financial Sector Yield Index.

Invesco has already announced the expected Powershares ETF portfolio names for the indexes. They are; Powershares KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT Portfolio, Powershares KBW High Dividend Premium Financial Portfolio, Powershares KBW Global ex-U.S. Financial Sector Portfolio and Powershares KBW Property and Casualty Insurance Portfolio.

Ben Fulton, managing director of global ETFs at Invesco Powershares says “KBW is highly regarded for its expertise on the financial services sector.”

KBW operates in the banking, insurance, brokerage, asset management, mortgage and speciality finance sectors.