In this research report created this month for The Globe And Mail, we look at Canadian ETFs: August’s launches.
The Canadian ETF industry reached a new record high of $186-billion in assets under management at the end of August. The momentum of ETF launches is not slowing down with 14 additions to the Canadian ETF product line-up, including a unique ETF by First Trust Canada and eight new ETFs by RBC iShares.
First Trust launched an ETF alternative to structured products, the First Trust Cboe Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF – August (AUGB.F). It seeks to shield investors from the first 10 per cent of losses, based on the price return of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), while capping returns at pre-determined levels over the target outcome period. Specifically, the fund’s investment objective is to provide unitholders with returns (before fees, expenses and taxes) that match the price return of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, up to a 13.18-per-cent cap (before fees, expenses and taxes), while providing a buffer against the first 10 per cent (before fees, expenses and taxes) of a decrease in the market price of the underlying ETF over a period of approximately one year – from the third Friday of August of each year to on or about the third Friday of August of the following year.
RBC iShares expanded its asset-allocation ETF offering with the introduction of three iShares ETFs, the iShares Core Income Balanced ETF Portfolio (XINC), the iShares Core Conservative Balanced ETF Portfolio (XCNS) and the iShares Core Equity ETF Portfolio (XEQT). Each of them has a management fee of 0.18 per cent. The new funds add to the iShares Core ETF Portfolio offering. One-ticket ETF portfolios have gained popularity among investors. These DIY funds provide simple, low-cost and diversified investment solutions that are slowly replacing the need for robo-advisers. All the major ETF providers offer one-ticket solutions: RBC iShares, BMO, Vanguard and Horizons.
RBC iShares also introduced five single factor ETFs earlier this week. Each ETF offers exposure to a distinct style of investing – Quality, Momentum, Value and Size. The iShares Edge MSCI USA Quality Factor Index ETF (XQLT), the iShares Edge MSCI USA Momentum Factor Index ETF (XMTM) and the iShares Edge MSCI USA Value Factor index ETF (XVLU) track the MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index, the MSCI USA Momentum Index and the MSCI USA Enhanced Value Index, respectively. The iShares S&P U.S. Small-Cap Index ETF (XSMC) and the iShares S&P U.S. Small-Cap Index ETF (CAD-Hedged) (XSMH) seeks to replicate, to the extent possible, the performance of the S&P SmallCap 600 Index and the S&P SmallCap 600 Index (CAD-Hedged). The addition of XSMC and XMSH further broadens RBC iShares’s comprehensive range of U.S. equity exposures, including total market, and large-, mid- and small-capitalization exposure.
Find the full report here
This article is written by Kimberly Yip Woon Sun, ETF Analyst at Inovestor Inc.
