Hash Assad, an executive financial consultant at IG Wealth Management, told Investment Executive that the company decided not to make the product exclusive so it can serve Muslims across Canada. Mackenzie is the manufacturing arm of IGM Financial, which also owns IG Wealth Management.
“It’s a huge day for us,” Calgary-based Assad said. “The halal investment fund is 19 years in the making.”
Assad had been petitioning IG to create a halal fund since he joined the company nearly two decades ago. Although there are over 4,000 mutual funds in Canada, Muslims cannot invest in them, as funds don’t disclose all of their constituent companies, Assad said.
The Mackenzie Shariah Global Equity Fund is certified by the Shariah advisory board of Ratings Intelligence and its continued compliance will be reviewed on a semi-annual basis. Assad said the fund manager will pick from approved stocks in the Dow Jones Islamic Market World Index, which is checked once a month for compliance.
Assad hopes the fund will reach $30 million by the end of 2024. IG’s involvement in setting up the fund also has marketing value, as it could attract Muslim investors to use its wealth management services, he said.
The next step for IG will be launching three to four portfolio funds to match the risk appetites of different investors, Assad said. He noted that such funds already exist in the U.S. and he’d like to see them replicated in Canada.
“We want to have a portfolio solution for clients that want to have that balance,” he said, adding that his “ultimate dream” would be for a variety of funds to be premade, prepackaged and automatically rebalanced.
The two other products announced were the Mackenzie World Low Volatility ETF and the Mackenzie World Low Volatility Fund, which invests in the ETF. The ETF is an actively managed global portfolio designed to provide investors with stability, the release said. Both the ETF and fund are available beginning Tuesday.
Lester Asset Management launches Canada’s first biodiversity fund
Montreal-based Lester Asset Management launched Canada’s first biodiversity fund, the company announced Tuesday.
The Lynx Global Diversity Fund invests in publicly traded companies that benefit from long-term climate action such as reversing nature loss, environmental protection and addressing water and food security.
The investments will be driven by targets set at the U.N. Biodiversity Conference in Montreal (COP15) to halt and reverse biodiversity loss as well as increase financial disclosure by companies on nature-related impacts.
