Canadian investors have another spot bitcoin ETF to choose from, with the arrival of a new fund from BlackRock Asset Management Canada Ltd.
Listed at market open on Monday, the iShares Bitcoin ETF (Cboe: IBIT) invests in the U.S.-listed iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (Nasdaq: IBIT), the world’s largest spot bitcoin ETF. That fund has gathered nearly US$53 billion in assets under management since its launch a year ago.
The new Canada-listed IBIT “seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of bitcoin” before payment of the fund’s expenses and liabilities, a release said.
The fund is also available in a U.S.-dollar version (Cboe: IBIT.U).
Its launch comes at a time when Canada-listed spot bitcoin ETFs are seeing significant outflows due to competition from U.S. providers, which got the regulatory green light to list these products last January.
BlackRock Canada noted that the iShares Bitcoin ETF has an annual management fee of 0.32%.
Other product news
Also on Monday, Fidelity Investments Canada ULC slashed the management fee of its Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin ETF (TSX: FBTC-T) from 0.39% to 0.32%.
In a release, the firm said this fee reduction would also apply to the Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin ETF Fund, which invests directly in the ETF.
On Jan. 10, Global X Investments Canada Inc. (Global X) announced in a release that it would be terminating four of its ETFs on or about March 24. All investor holdings will be subject to a mandatory redemption as of the termination date.
The soon-to-be-closed ETFs include:
- the $3.8-million Global X Carbon Credits ETF (TSX: CARB)
- the $69.3-million Global X ReSolve Adaptive Asset Allocation Corporate Class ETF (TSX: HRAA)
- the $5.3-million Global X S&P Green Bond Index ETF (TSX: HGGB)
- the $3.2-million Global X Metaverse Index ETF (TSX: MTAV).
In a separate release, Global X announced that the forward expenses and hedging costs payable by certain ETFs that it manages are changing on Jan. 20 due to “changing market conditions.” More details on the changes as well as a full list of the ETFs subject to the changes are available here.
Royal Bank of Canada’s takeover of HSBC Canada, which closed last April, has resulted in multiple fund mergers and closures.
In a Jan. 7 release, RBC said that after the merger closed, HSBC Global Asset Management (Canada) Ltd. became a wholly owned subsidiary of RBC, part of the RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM) group of companies. It has been renamed RBC Indigo Asset Management Inc.
Given the “high degree of overlap between funds” offered by the two divisions, unitholder approval will be sought on a series of changes. “Following the implementation of the fund mergers, transitions and closures, RBC Indigo will be wound-up and dissolved,” RBC said.
The National Bank of Canada announced on Jan. 6 that it filed a prospectus supplement to a short form base prospectus dated Sept. 6, 2024, with the various securities regulatory authorities in Canada under the Medium Term Notes Program.
The bank also announced that it intends to issue medium-term notes for an aggregate principal amount of $1 billion and an expected maturity date of Feb. 15, 2035. Interest on the non-viability contingent capital (NVCC) subordinated notes will be paid semi-annually at 4.26% each year until Feb. 15, 2030, and “thereafter at a floating rate equal to the daily compounded [Canadian Overnight Repo Rate Average] plus 1.56% payable quarterly,” a release said.
The NVCC notes will be issued and sold through a dealer syndicate led by National Bank Financial Inc., the bank added.
On Jan. 1, Toronto-based asset manager Waratah Capital Advisors Ltd. announced that it changed the name of the Waratah Alternative ESG Fund to the Waratah Core Fund. The firm said there would be no changes to the investment objective, strategies or management of the fund as a result.
Evolve Funds Group Inc. announced on Dec. 19 that it removed certain content from its website and social media at the request of the Ontario Securities Commission which undertook an “issue-oriented review of sales communications.”
The firm removed sales communication for the Evolve NASDAQ Technology Index Fund (TSX: QQQT) “as it omitted certain prescribed disclosure,” a release said.
Namely, the firm removed sales communication on social media that said QQQT was “Canada’s Best Performing Technology ETF over the past 1 year” and had an annualized performance of 63.54% as of July 11, 2024.
Evolve also removed target yield information associated with the Evolve Canadian Utilities Enhanced Yield Index Fund (TSX: UTES) from the fund’s overview document posted on the firm’s website.
The overview document said the fund had “a target yield of 16% and 16.44%” as at September 4, 2024 and September 30, 2024 respectively,” but the fund “had not distributed securities under a prospectus for a period of at least 12 consecutive months,” the release said.
No changes were made to the funds’ prospectus or other disclosure documents, Evolve noted.