<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none;" alt="" src="https://px.ads.linkedin.com/collect/?pid=4496002&amp;fmt=gif">

Blackrock Thematic

BlackRock is bulking up its thematic suite, listing two new funds targeting popular well-performing niches, both of which track FactSet indexes.


  • iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF (IHAK)
  • iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF (IDNA)

IHAK, to us, looks basically like a global tech ETF but with some tampering around the edges and a steep fee. IHAK will invest in global companies judged by FactSet to be exposed to cybersecurity. The companies it chooses, which will overwhelmingly come from the tech sector, will be selected with an eye to revenue. 

The fund will rebalance twice a year and reconstituted annually. While the companies can be global, 34 out of 39 at the time of writing are based in the US, the prospectus indicates. IHAK charges 0.47%.

IDNA, from what we can tell, is just a global biotech ETF, but with a try-hard fund name and - again - a steep fee. IDNA begins by using RBICS definitions of the biopharma and healthcare sectors. It then invests in the biggest companies by market cap that FactSet judges to be involved in genomics and immunology. 

The weights of each company are capped at 4%, giving the fund something similar to the equal weight effect of State Street’s $4 billion biotech ETF XBI. The fund rebalances annually and charges 0.47%. 


Contact Us

• Contact us

Have questions about this?

Speak to one of our ETF data specialists about how this applies to your fund range.

Get in touch

Bernie Thurston

Bernie Thurston is the founder and CEO of Ultumus, a leading provider of ETF and index data, calculation, and workflow solutions. With over 20 years of experience in financial technology, Bernie has been at the forefront of index and ETF innovation since 2003.

His finance career began at Markit, where as Managing Director for Equities he designed and developed products for index and ETF composition and dividend forecasting from 2003 to 2011. He then founded and led DeltaOne Solutions as Managing Director, building it into a global provider of index and ETF trading data and technology services. The company managed over 100,000 multi-asset class products before being acquired by Markit in 2015.

Following the acquisition, while working for an ETF issuer, Bernie identified fundamental issues in how index and ETF data was represented across the industry. This led him to found Ultumus in 2016, building solutions for ETF primary market operations. Under his leadership, Ultumus has grown into a market leader serving major financial institutions globally, with its ETF Order Management System (OMS) supporting create and redeem workflows worldwide and its PCF platform calculating and distributing portfolio composition files for ETF issuers across every major market.

Bernie sold Ultumus to SIX Group in 2021, where it continues to expand across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific. Known for building lasting teams and leveraging cutting-edge technology, Bernie is focused on establishing Ultumus as the backbone of the global index and ETF industry through standardisation and automation.

Related posts

Search ULTUMUS hires Mr Index – Femi Orangun
Kraneshares China Pivot Search