Barclay's Launches Social Investing ETF

February 1, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Barclay's Global Investors has announced the launch of its first exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on social investing.

According to a  press release , the iShares KLD Select Social Fund began trading Monday on the NYSE. The ETFs tracking index is maintained by research firm Kinder, Lyndenberg, Domini & Co., and contains 250 to 350 large-cap non-tobacco companies taken from the S&P 500 and Russell 1000 indices.

Stocks are then weighted on their performance in numerous categories, including environment, labor and community relations, workforce diversity, product safety, human rights record and governance, according to the release. The iShares have also adopted proxy voting guidelines in hopes of increasing transparency and increasing reporting.

The ETF has an expense ratio of 50 basis points.

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