Another large Canadian asset-management firm is now officially in the ETF business as Lévis, Que.-based Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. (DGAM) announced on Monday that its inaugural suite of seven ETFs are now trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).
DGAM’s ETFs encompass fixed-income funds, one preferred share fund and four multi-factor-controlled volatility funds, says Nicolas Richard, CEO of DGAM, in a statement.
Among the new ETFs that DGAM has released include: Desjardins Canadian Universe Bond Index ETF, Desjardins Canadian Short Term Bond Index ETF, Desjardins 1-5 year Laddered Canadian Corporate Bond Index ETF, Desjardins 1-5 year Laddered Canadian Government Bond Index ETF, Desjardins Canadian Preferred Share Index ETF, Desjardins Canada Multifactor-Controlled Volatility ETF and Desjardins USA Multifactor-Controlled Volatility ETF.
As well, two more ETFs, Desjardins Developed ex-USA ex-Canada Multifactor-Controlled Volatility ETF and Desjardins Emerging Markets Multifactor-Controlled Volatility ETF, are slated for trading sometime in the second quarter of 2017.
(A full list of the new lineup’s corresponding ticker symbols and management fees is available in DGAM’s news release.)
“The launch of the Desjardins ETFs represents the next step in the evolution of our offering of global investment solutions,” says Richard in a statement.
Meanwhile, in other ETFs news, Mackenzie Financial Corp. is reclassifying the risk rating for the Mackenzie Core Plus Global Fixed Income ETF to “low” from “medium to low.”
The change, which is now in effect, was spurred by the Canadian Securities Administrators’ recent update to its risk classification methodology.
“Previously, the ETF’s risk rating was determined using a standard deviation based calculation sanctioned by the Canadian ETF Association,” Mackenzie’s statement says.
No tweaks to the affected ETF’s investment objective are expected in response to this change.
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