Designed to provide broad exposure to the Financials ETFs category of the market, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials ETF (RSPF) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 11/01/2006.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.
There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.
This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.
Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Because the fund has amassed over $281.42 million, this makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Financials ETFs. RSPF is managed by Invesco. Before fees and expenses, RSPF seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 EQUAL WEIGHT FINANCIALS INDEX .
The S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials Index equally weights stocks in the financial sector of the S&P 500 Index.
Cost & Other Expenses
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.40% for RSPF, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.25%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
For RSPF, it has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector --about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Citigroup Inc (C) accounts for about 1.44% of total assets, followed by Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) and Synchrony Financial (SYF).
RSPF's top 10 holdings account for about 14.03% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has lost about -0.92% so far this year and is up roughly 4.38% in the last one year (as of 06/25/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $69.04 and $80.83
RSPF has a beta of 0.86 and standard deviation of 16.60% for the trailing three-year period. With about 78 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Financials ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.
Vanguard Financials Index Fund ETF Shares (VFH) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Financials 25/50 Index and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) tracks Financial Select Sector Index. Vanguard Financials Index Fund ETF Shares has $12.79 billion in assets, State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $50.73 billion. VFH has an expense ratio of 0.09% and XLF changes 0.08%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Financials ETFs
Bottom Line
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Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials ETF (RSPF): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).