Desjardins Securities Inc. today announced the launch of three new portfolios that link financial performance with corporate values that favor the presence of women in high executive positions at publicly traded companies, as well as the adoption of corporate governance best practices.

“The presence of women in executive positions and good corporate governance practices are two elements that favor better financial and stock performance for publicly traded companies,” explains Guylaine Raby, vp and assistant portfolio manager at Desjardins Securities.

“The new PDG portfolios take into consideration these success factors, providing investors with an investment vehicle that is focused on achieving high performance targets and is unique to the Canadian market. In other words, investing in companies which have adopted good governance practices and which have given women key roles within their organizations, is a winning strategy,” Raby says.

PDG Portfolios, named for financial Performance, Diversity (presence of women on the board or in high executive positions within companies) and Governance, are made up of S&P/TSX Canadian securities, which are selected and recommended by Desjardins Securities’ research and quantitative analysis service. These values were developed in partnership with the Chair of Governance and Forensic Accounting at HEC Montréal.

Desjardins Securities says the composition of these portfolios is backed by a series of studies which indicate that companies with women in decision-making positions generate higher financial returns. A recent study carried out by a HEC Montréal research group showed that these companies’ returns were 6% above the average between 2001 and 2004.

PDG Portfolios offer three choices, PDG Conservative, PDG Balanced and PDG Growth, which are designed to suit investors’ varying levels of risk tolerance. The stocks selected for each portfolio category are from companies whose high executive or board of directors include at least one woman. The quality of governance is evaluated according to 22 criteria covering four aspects: composition of the board of directors; executive or board member compensation and stock ownership; shareholder rights; and information disclosure.

The management fees are 1.65% for the PDG Conservative portfolio, 1.75% for the PDG Balanced portfolio and 1.95% for the PDG Growth portfolio.