BlackRock launches 4 ETFs focused on Europe that distinguish between local and global growth
29 APR, 2026
By Joanna Piwko from RankiaPro Europe
BlackRock has announced the launch of four new iShares ETFs that replicate the STOXX Focus indices, a pioneering solution that seeks to offer investors a more precise way of accessing domestic growth in the UK and Europe. The proposal introduces an approach based on companies' revenues, allowing to distinguish between those with mainly local activity and those with global exposure.
This new range divides regional indices into two categories: Domestic Focus, which includes companies that generate at least 50% of their revenues in their home market, and Foreign Focus, composed of companies with more than 50% of their revenues coming from abroad. In this way, investors can adjust their portfolios depending on whether they seek to capture a region's internal growth or benefit from global dynamics.
A paradigm shift: investing according to the origin of revenues
BlackRock's initiative is based on more than a decade of academic research and uses FactSet's GeoRevenue data, which analyzes where nearly 50,000 companies actually generate their revenues in about 280 regions. This approach offers a more precise view of the real geographical exposure, compared to the traditional classification by place of listing.
The change responds to the evolution of the market, where many European companies, despite being locally listed, earn a significant portion of their revenues outside their borders. This implies that traditional indices combine both domestic and international growth, making a more refined capital allocation difficult.
From a portfolio construction perspective, this segmentation opens up two major uses:
- On one hand, it facilitates tactical strategies, allowing investors to position themselves more precisely according to their macroeconomic perspectives.
- On the other hand, it improves strategic diversification, by enabling a conscious allocation between exposure to local demand and global revenues.
The manager emphasizes that this innovation comes at a time of strong demand for more sophisticated investment tools. In 2025, European equity ETPs recorded record inflows of $91.1 billion, matching the total accumulated over the previous decade. In addition, portfolios in the EMEA region currently have an average overweight of 18% in European equities compared to the MSCI ACWI index.
BlackRock is expanding client access to allow investors to better express their views in a more fragmented global environment. As the macroeconomic environment becomes more granular, tools must evolve beyond traditional country classifications. Income-based approaches offer a clearer view of where returns are generated and where risks reside, allowing for more precise diversification in portfolios.
Vincent Denoiseux, Head of Research and Product Innovation at iShares in EMEA
