National Bank Investments (NBI), the investment management arm of the National Bank of Canada, has debuted its first ETFs with the launch of four funds on Toronto Stock Exchange.
NBI celebrated the launch of the ETFs with a market opening ceremony at Toronto Stock Exchange on 19 February 2019.
The suite consists of three actively managed ETFs and one index-based ETF.
The three actively managed ETFs are outlined below.
The NBI Global Real Assets Income ETF (NREA CN) invests primarily in common shares of companies globally that operate in real estate and infrastructure sectors.
The fund uses a bottom-up security selection process to seek a mix of income and long-term capital growth while focusing on hedging against inflation. The income component of the portfolio focuses on dividend-paying companies in developed markets, while the growth component targets firms in developing economies. The fund comes with a management fee of 0.90%.
The NBI Active Canadian Preferred Shares ETF (NPRF CN) aims to generate tax-efficient dividend income while focusing on capital preservation by investing in preferred shares of Canadian companies. The fund may also allocate a portion of its portfolio assets to dividend-paying stocks of Canadian companies as well as up to 10% in foreign securities.
Security selection is guided by fundamental, quantitative, and technical analysis based on a firm’s credit risk profile as well as its industry growth prospects. The fund’s management fee is 0.50%.
The NBI Liquid Alternatives ETF (NALT CN) aims to provide a positive return while maintaining low correlation to, and lower volatility than, the return of the global equity markets. It invests primarily in long and short derivative positions that provide exposure to different major global asset classes including government bonds, currencies, equities, or commodities. The fund’s management fee is 0.60%.
Each of the three actively managed ETFs can invest in other ETFs and mutual funds as well as derivatives in order to achieve their desired exposures.
On the passive front, NBI has launched the NBI Canadian Family Business ETF (NFAM CN) which is linked to the NBC Canadian Family Index, a reference for the performance of publicly-listed, family-owned Canadian companies.
Stocks must have a market-capitalization and six-month average trading value of at least CAD$1 billion and CAD$500,000 respectively. The fund’s management fee is 0.35%.
“We are excited to continue the expansion of NBI’s solutions, providing investors with innovative portfolio and risk diversification opportunities,” said Annamaria Testani, Vice-President, National Sales at National Bank Investments. “When markets are as complex as ever, staying invested is key. We believe our first ETFs provide a compelling way to gain non-traditional active and alternative niche exposure and diversify portfolio risk.”