BMO Asset Management Inc. continued to broaden its diverse line-up of exchange-traded funds today as seven new ETFs opened for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. This brings the total to 58 for the No. 2 firm in the Canadian ETF industry, which has assets of about $12.5 billion.
Four of the new ETFs are in core equity categories: U.S., international and European. The fourth equity mandate is a financial-services fund investing in U.S. banks. The three income funds consist of a Canadian bond fund, a U.S. corporate-bond fund and a floating-rate high-yield fund.
BMO MSCI Europe High Quality Hedged to CAD Index becomes only the third Canadian-listed European equity ETF, all of which were launched this month. The first was First Trust AlphaDEX European Dividend Index ETF (CAD-Hedged) EUR on Feb. 4, followed by First Asset MSCI Europe Low Risk Weighted RWE on Feb. 11.
BMO's Europe ETF is the first Canadian-listed ETF in any fund category to track an MSCI Quality Index, notes Kevin Gopaul, chief investment officer of BMO Asset Management. The index methodology selects large-and mid-cap European stocks that have high returns on equity, stable earnings growth and low financial leverage.
The other new BMO ETFs are:
- BMO US High Dividend Covered Call, which is actively managed by BMO Asset Management. It employs a proprietary rules-based methodology that screens U.S. stocks on the basis of dividend growth, yield and payout ratio. Holding 30 large-cap dividend-paying stocks, the fund won't hedge its currency exposure. It may hold covered-call options on selected holdings to mitigate risk and generate capital gains. Distributions are to be made monthly.
- BMO MSCI EAFE Index, which seeks to replicate the popular index of large- and mid-cap European, Asian and Pacific Rim stocks. Offering currency diversification, it's an unhedged alternative to BMO MSCI EAFE Hedged to CAD Index ZDM, offered since October 2009.
- BMO Equal Weight US Banks Index, which invests in U.S. large-cap banks and provides U.S. currency exposure. It's the unhedged counterpart of BMO Equal Weight US Banks Hedged to CAD Index ETF ZUB, offered since May 2010.
- BMO Discount Bond Index, a Canadian fixed-income fund that will hold investment-grade domestic bond issues trading near or below their par value. All of the fund's holdings are denominated in Canadian dollars.
- BMO Short-Term US IG Corporate Bond Hedged to CAD Index, providing broad currency-hedged exposure to U.S. investment-grade corporate bonds with maturities of five years or less.
- BMO Floating Rate High Yield, providing exposure to high-yield bonds while mitigating the effects of interest-rate fluctuations through the use of derivatives such as credit default swaps and interest-rate swaps.
Fund | Symbol | Reference index | Mgmt Fee (%) |
||
BMO MSCI Europe High Quality Hedged to CAD Index |
ZEQ | MSCI Europe Quality 100% Hedged to CAD Index | 0.40 | ||
BMO US High Dividend Covered Call | ZWH | None (Actively managed) | 0.65 | ||
BMO MSCI EAFE Index | ZEA | MSCI EAFE Index | 0.30 | ||
BMO Equal Weight US Banks Index | ZBK | Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Banks Equal Weight Total Stock Market Index |
0.35 | ||
BMO Discount Bond Index | ZDB | FTSE TMX Canada Universe Discount Bond Index | 0.20 | ||
BMO Short-Term US IG Corporate Bond Hedged to CAD Index |
ZSU | Barclays US Investment Grade 1 to 5 Year Corporate Bond Capped Index CAD Hedged |
0.25 | ||
BMO Floating Rate High Yield | ZFH | None (Actively managed) | 0.40 | ||
Source: BMO Asset Management Inc. | |||||