iShares, the exchange traded funds business of BlackRock, has launched an ETF focusing on the US market.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange, the MSCI USA fund tracks the performance of the MSCI USA Index – a benchmark for the broad US equity market – through investing in the underlying securities. It is offered in accumulating form, meaning that dividends can be reinvested automatically.

It is the fourth country-specific fund the firm has launched this year, having already listed funds tracking indices of the Australian, Canadian and South African equity markets on the LSE. This has brought the total number of UK-listed country-specific ETFs offered by iShares to 30.

Exchange traded funds have grown by a compound annual rate of 90.5 per cent over the past 10 years in Europe according to BlackRock, which acquired the iShares business through its takeover of Barclays Global Investors.

And as the ETF market gains popularity among investors, a number of product and service providers are widening their offerings in this area.

Morgan Stanley has launched a dedicated lending book for ETFs, aimed at investors wishing to borrow these products. According to Morgan Stanley, it is the first firm to offer this type of product in Europe, whereas in the US there is already a large supply of borrowable ETFs.

The create-to-lend process involves borrowing the underlying stocks in the ETF and using the creation process with the issuer to manufacture new ETF shares. The shares can then be lent out to investors wishing to short the ETF.

Initially the firm will offer 51 equity index funds (with over 100 separate listings), representing 23 per cent of total assets under management in the European ETF industry.

Meanwhile, reflecting the breadth of the market, financial services information provider Markit has launched a service providing a comprehensive data set tracking exchange traded funds worldwide. Markit ETF Services will collate details of ETF providers, along with their daily portfolio compositions, net asset values, assets under management and dividend forecasts.