Harvest Banks & Buildings Leaders Income (symbol: HCBB), which combines bank and real-estate-related stocks and will make monthly income distributions, opened for trading today on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Managed by Oakville, Ont.-based Harvest Portfolios Group Inc., the exchange-traded fund has the same strategy as a mutual fund with the same name. High costs have been a negative attribute of this fund, with management-expense ratios of 3.81% for the Class A units sold through commissioned dealers, and 2.22% for the Class D units designed for self-directed investors who deal with discount brokers.
By comparison, the ETF's management fee is a much lower 0.85%, though this fee does not cover any of the operating expenses.
Like the mutual fund, the ETF will invest primarily in Canada and the U.S. According to the ETF prospectus, up to 25% of assets may be invested outside Canada. Currently, the strategy's top 10 holdings include all five of the largest Canadian banks, along with Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF) and Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC).