New Emerge ETFs Boasts All-Female Portfolio Managers and Sustainability Focus
Sustainable investing and female portfolio managers are still hard to find among exchange-traded funds. A new set of ETFs aim to change that, with a focus on 100% female-run ESG ETFs that launched in September.
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have grown in popularity across Canada and the United States, providing access to an increasing array of innovative investment opportunities. And yet, despite multiple product launches each year, two key themes are still overlooked: sustainable investing and the rise of female portfolio managers.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Female fund managers continue to prove their success, and yet as of the end of 2021, only 11.8% of portfolio managers were female on a global scale, according to Citywire’s Alpha Female Report.
The numbers aren’t much better for environmental, social and governance (ESG) ETFs. At the end of 2020, there were only 328 ESG ETFs found on the United States and Canadian stock exchanges, out of almost 4,000 ETFs listed in Canada and the United States.
Emerge Canada Inc. is working hard to change that. And with more and more millennials looking to invest, their efforts couldn’t come at a better time. Millennials pushed the growth of sustainable investing, with $51.1 billion invested in these stocks between 2010 and 2020, according to Morning Star. And now, everyone wants in.
A Female Focus on Sustainable Investing
In September 2022, Emerge launched 5 new ETFs, all with a focus on sustainability. Furthermore, each of the ETFs are run by female portfolio managers. Together, these latest additions to the Emerge product shelf mark a huge step towards a future of more equality-focused management strategies.
The new ETFs, which launched on the NEO Exchange, a Cboe Global Markets Company, are as follows:
- Emerge EMPWR Sustainable Dividend Equity ETF under the tickers EPCA and EPCA.U. It focuses on long-term total returns and current income by investing in dividend U.S. equity securities focusing on ESG criteria.
- Emerge EMPWR Sustainable Select Growth Equity ETF under the tickers EPGC and EPGC.U. It focuses on long-term growth by investing in U.S. equity securities, focusing on ESG criteria.
- Emerge EMPWR Sustainable Global Core Equity ETF under the tickers EPZA and EPZA.U. It focuses on long-term growth by investing in global equities that focus on ESG criteria.
- Emerge EMPWR Sustainable Emerging Markets Equity ETF under the tickers EPCH and EPZA.U. It focuses on long-term growth by investing in emerging market equities that focus on ESG criteria.
- Emerge EMPWR Unified Sustainable Equity ETF under the tickers EPWR and EPWR.U. It focuses on long-term growth by investing in global equities that focus on ESG criteria.
ETFs based on the same strategies were also launched simultaneously on the Cboe BZX Exchange in the U.S.
Moving Forward, Despite the Pushback
These new Emerge ETFs come at a time when ESG ETFs are under threat. The U.S. Department of Labor released a regulation in October 2020 that would aim at eliminating ESGs from retirement pension funds. If approved, it would be a huge loss for these ETFs.
The thing is, it’s unlikely to go through. ESGs are a future opportunity that provide far too much growth to be missed. And with oil and gas stocks becoming less and less likely to provide that long-term growth, these funds will be necessary now, and in the future.
So here we have Emerge, providing investors with two benefits. First, an opportunity at long-term growth from ESG funds. Second, by choosing highly-talented portfolio managers who have been overlooked simply because they’re female.
And when it comes to your financial goals, cash is king...or, perhaps we should say: “cash is QUEEN.”
