On Wednesday, five exchange traded funds (ETFs) from BlackRock's Canadian subsidiary and Dynamic Funds are set to debut on the Toronto stock exchange (TSX). Canadian and global investors continuing to pile into the lower-fee ETF options available in the market (with more than $110 billion invested in ETFs in Canada alone) instead of more traditional actively-managed mutual funds or hedge funds, which has driven changes in the market in which actively managed funds are now competing in a "race to the bottom" in terms of fees.
This trend is shaping up to be excellent for investors, as those who previously may not have considered the opportunity of owning an actively managed fund can now do so at a cost much lower than the vast majority of such options. Many investors simply do not want to buy and hold a portfolio representative of an index, and would sleep better knowing someone was actively managing their portfolio.
The five Dynamic iShares Active ETFs are set to provide a range of options for investors, from Canadian dividend options to U.S. dividend, global dividend, preferred shares, and crossover bonds.
The opportunity to expand these offerings to the Canadian market is one which appeared too lucrative to pass up, given the impressive growth rate of ETF investment in Canada -- in 2016, the year-over-year growth rate of invested funds in ETFs rose more than 25% -- and this growth rate is not expected to slow down, at least in the short term.
Invest wisely, my friends.
