Jennifer Tozser, senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager, National Bank Financial, Calgary
My firm recognized the problem that could arise with the know-your-product (KYP) reforms, so it introduced an in-house tool for the KYP requirements. I can choose the index or ticker that I want to use, and the tool produces a list of similar securities so I can compare. Before, I was doing it manually. If I had an idea of an ETF I wanted to use, I would go to the provider I am most familiar with and look at its lineup, and then I would go to about four or five other providers, look at their offer and do a comparison.
Brian Peters, senior investment advisor, Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management, Vancouver
I have access to a KYP comparison tool under my firm’s Envestnet internal system, which is essentially an internal know-your-product compliance comparison tool. I can input a ticker or mutual fund code and it provides a comparison of about five ETFs in similar categor-ies or size, for example, and it spits out a report of costs, volatility — all the metrics we need to make these decisions. It’s a very simple tool. Additionally, if I’m looking at a particular sector of funds, I can print a 10-page report with a detailed comparative analysis and financial metrics.
Ryan Lewenza, senior financial advisor and portfolio manager, Turner Investments, Toronto
I use Bloomberg. I pay for it, but it’s worth it. It saves me so much time because all the information is right there — I think it’s the greatest analytical tool out there. It helps me really get to know my products because I can get into the granular details of an ETF.
Basically, I pick the theme I want to use and look at all the ETFs available. Then I take the tickers to Bloomberg and look for three things: the bid/ask spread, the daily trading volume, and the size or assets under management of the ETF. I also use it to look at the management expense ratio and tracking error of an ETF, which analyzes how close an ETF tracks its benchmark.