Investors Flock to Canadian Women Leadership Fund: ETF Watch
Investors Flock to New Canadian Women Leadership Fund: ETF Watch
(Bloomberg) -- Investors are piling into a new fund focused on female leadership, making it the second-best performing Canadian ETF in terms of inflows over the past week.
The RBC Vision Women’s Leadership MSCI Canada Index ETF (ticker RLDR) has attracted inflows of $77.4 million since it launched on International Women’s Day, trailing only the giant iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF, which has taken in $196.2 million as of data available Friday.
The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, has invested C$100 million in the ETF which focuses on Canadian companies that show a commitment to putting women on their boards and in executive leadership positions.
The fund’s top holdings closely track those of other large-cap Canadian ETFs, with Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Enbridge Inc., Suncor Energy Inc. and Bank of Nova Scotia rounding out the top five.
RLDR is the third gender-diversity exchange-traded fund in Canada, following similar products from Evolve Funds Group Inc. and Mackenzie Investments Corp. that began trading last year.
The Evolve North American Gender Diversity Index ETF (ticker HERS) tracks the Solactive Equileap North American Gender Equality Index, which looks at women in leadership positions as well as policies that support equality in the workforce. Since it launched in September, it has gained more than 6 percent and has total assets of C$5.9 million, according to Bloomberg data.
The Mackenzie Global Leadership Impact ETF (ticker MWMN) invests in companies that promote gender diversity and female leadership around the world. Since it launched in December, it has gained about 6 percent and has total assets of C$6.3 million.
--With assistance from Carolina Wilson
To contact the reporter on this story: Kristine Owram in Toronto at kowram@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net, Morwenna Coniam
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