As Canadian mutual fund managers continue to expand their ETF lineups, IA Clarington Investments Inc. and AGF Management Ltd., both based in Toronto, announced the launch of bond ETFs Monday.
IA Clarington introduced an exchange-traded series for three of its existing funds, namely: IA Clarington Core Plus Bond Fund (ICPB), IA Clarington Global Bond Fund (IGLB) and IA Clarington Emerging Markets Bond Fund (IEMB). These began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange Monday.
AGF has launched, through subsidiary AGFiQ Asset Management, the AGFiQ Enhanced Core Global Multi-Sector Bond ETF, which uses a multi-factor approach to select fixed income securities. It began trading on the Aequitas NEO Exchange Monday.
The fee structure for the IA Clarington ETFs range from 0.50% to 0.80%, the same as for Series F, the funds’ fee-based series.
The AGF ETF has a management fee of 0.45%.
“Given the current environment in fixed income and longer-term projections for interest rates, investors are looking to diversify existing bond portfolios into strategies that offer access to different areas of the market,” Kevin McCreadie, president and chief investment officer, AGF, says in a statement. “While fixed income investing has its roots in mathematics, we are excited to be the first in Canada to apply quantitative factor models to the asset class, focused on better understanding and managing of risk as we seek out opportunities for total return and income across the global bond market.”
“With the launch of Active ETF Series, three of IA Clarington’s differentiated, high-conviction fixed-income solutions are now available in an attractively priced exchange-traded investment vehicle,” Eric Frape, senior vice president, product and investments, IA Clarington, says in a statement.