Toronto-based CIBC Asset Management Inc. (CIBCAM), a subsidiary of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), has filed prospectuses for four ETFs, making CIBC the last of the Big Six banks to enter the ETFs business.
The four ETFs include two actively managed bond ETFs — CIBC Active Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF and CIBC Active Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF and two multifactor equity ETFs — CIBC Multifactor Canadian Equity ETF and CIBC Multifactor U.S. Equity ETF.
> CIBC Active Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF, which will have a risk rating of “low” and annual management fee of 0.4%, will seek to produce a high level of current income while preserving capital by investing primarily in bonds, debentures, notes and other debt instruments of Canadian issuers.
> CIBC Active Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF, which also will have a risk rating of “low” but an annual management fee of 0.35%, will aim to generate current income while preserving capital by investing primarily in a portfolio of Canadian debt securities and using interest rate derivatives that seek to mitigate the effect of interest rate fluctuations.
> CIBC Multifactor Canadian Equity ETF, which will have a risk rating of “medium” and an annual management fee of 0.3%, will track the CIBC multifactor Canadian equity index. The ETF will invest primarily in an equally weighted portfolio of Canadian equities that show certain factor considerations related to value, momentum, low volatility and quality.
> CIBC Multifactor U.S. Equity ETF, which also will have a risk rating of “medium” and an annual management fee of 0.3%, will track the CIBC multifactor U.S. equity index. The ETF will invest primarily in an equally weighted portfolio of U.S. equities that demonstrate certain factor considerations related to value, momentum, low volatility and quality.
Last week, Montreal-based National Bank Investments Inc., a subsidiary of National Bank of Canada, also filed prospectuses for four ETFs. NBI’s initial suite of ETFs — which include NBI Active Canadian Preferred Shares ETF, NBI Canadian Family ETF, NBI Global Real Assets Income ETF and NBI Liquid Alternatives ETF — “will offer non-traditional niche exposures including active preferred shares, family businesses, real assets and liquid alternatives,” National Bank Financial Inc. stated in a research note.
NBI and CIBCAM would become the 34th and 35th ETF providers in Canada, respectively, and the last asset-management firms associated with the Big Six banks to enter the ETFs business.