TORONTO, June 6, 2019 /CNW/ - Fidelity Investments Canada ULC (Fidelity), one of Canada's top investment management firms, today launched new investment products designed to provide investors with the potential to both effect positive change and achieve strong risk-adjusted performance: Fidelity Women's Leadership Fund, Fidelity Sustainable World ETF and Fidelity Sustainable World ETF Fund are offerings for investors looking to match their values with their investing dollars. Fidelity Sustainable World ETF (FCSW) will commence trading on the Neo Exchange Inc. when the market opens today. Additionally, Fidelity launched its newest currency solution - a suite of Fidelity Systematic Currency Hedged funds - on select U.S. equity products.
"As the world of investing is changing with the rise of sustainable investing, advisors have been asking for investment solutions that help their investors match their values with their investments," said Rob Strickland, President, Fidelity Investments Canada ULC. "We're pleased to launch these investment solutions that champion change by combining investors' desire to effect positive change with the potential to generate strong risk-adjusted returns."
Fidelity Women's Leadership Fund is a core U.S. equity strategy focused on investing in companies that prioritize and advance women's leadership and development.
The fund is sub-advised by FMR Co., Inc. (FMRC) and leverages Fidelity's deep fundamental equity research expertise to find gender-diverse companies with the potential for achieving strong risk-adjusted returns. This active fund will be managed by Head of ESG Investing and portfolio manager Nicole Connolly.
In managing this fund, Nicole casts a wide net in search of opportunities in gender-diverse companies that have the potential to succeed. Gender-diverse companies are defined as companies with one or more of the following characteristics: a woman as a member of the senior management team, including such roles as CEO, President, Chairman or CFO; a board of directors composed of at least 33% women or at least three female directors; and gender diversity initiatives and policies, designed to attract, retain and promote women.
Fidelity Sustainable World ETF is a global multi-factor equity strategy that invests in companies that are believed to have favourable environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics. Advisors and investors are increasingly looking to align their investment goals with their values, without sacrificing potential long-term performance.
This strategy, which is sub-advised by Geode Capital Management, LLC (Geode), is designed to offer strong risk-adjusted returns using Geode's quantitative multi-factor model. Geode is a global systematic investment manager with more than US$464 billion in assets under management as at March 31, 2019. The model uses a best-in-class screening approach to select companies with favourable ESG characteristics and attractive fundamental characteristics. Fidelity Sustainable World ETF Fund is a mutual fund version of the ETF that expands access and choice for financial advisors and investors.
Geode's multi-factor model evaluates stocks from the investment universe on over 40 factor characteristics that fall within a number of categories, including, but not limited to: 1) favourable valuation, 2) positive momentum, 3) high quality profile, 4) strong growth potential, and 5) information flow asymmetries. The quantitative multi-factor model gives more emphasis to those stocks that have the strongest fundamental characteristics and seeks to construct a portfolio that has a more favourable ESG profile than the broader market.
In addition, Fidelity is also introducing a new currency solution in response to demand for products that can adapt to currency risk. Six U.S. equity funds will each be offered in a systematic currency hedged version: Fidelity Women's Leadership Systematic Currency Hedged Fund, Fidelity Small Cap America Systematic Currency Hedged Fund, Fidelity American Equity Systematic Currency Hedged Fund, Fidelity U.S. Dividend Systematic Currency Hedged Fund, Fidelity U.S. Focused Stock Systematic Currency Hedged Fund and Fidelity Insights Systematic Currency Hedged Fund. These funds utilize a quantitative model that measures and analyzes market signals to determine an optimal hedge ratio.
Portfolio Manager Nicole Connolly
Nicole Connolly is Head of ESG Investing and a portfolio manager at FMRC, which is part of a broader collection of companies known as Fidelity Investments.
In this role, Ms. Connolly leads the ESG investment efforts, including helping to direct Fidelity's ESG product roadmap, facilitating greater education about ESG in the investment process, and coordinating the cross-asset class ESG efforts. She is also the portfolio manager for Fidelity Women's Leadership Fund in the U.S.
Prior to assuming her current responsibilities, Ms. Connolly served as managing director of research and managed the Energy, Technology, Utilities and Emerging Markets teams. Previously, she served as head of the research associate program, which included the management, recruitment, and promotion process for undergraduates to cover small to mid-cap stocks. Ms. Connolly's additional areas of management focus included thought leadership around women's initiatives and incorporating proprietary research into the investment process.
Prior to that, Ms. Connolly was a research analyst for the Small Cap Equity group, where she was responsible for the Consumer, Healthcare and Energy sectors. Additionally, she worked in the High Income group and covered the Energy, Paper and Packaging sectors. Prior to joining Equity and High Income Research, Ms. Connolly spent two years focused on private equity in Fidelity's Devonshire Investors group.
Before joining the Fidelity Investments organization in 2000, Ms. Connolly was a financial analyst focused on global project finance while attending the Financial Analyst Investment Banking Training Program at Citibank from 1998 to 2000. Ms. Connolly has been in the investments industry since 1998.
Ms. Connolly earned her Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Boston College.
Fidelity Investments Canada ULC
Fidelity Investments Canada ULC manages a total of $135 billion in mutual fund, institutional and ETF assets. This includes $34 billion in assets for institutional clients including public and corporate defined benefit pension and defined contributions plans, sub-advised programs, endowments, foundations and other corporate assets on behalf of clients across Canada as at March 31, 2019.
Fidelity Investments Canada ULC provides Canadian investors a full range of domestic, international and income oriented mutual funds and ETFs, as well as asset allocation, managed solutions, and a high net worth program. Fidelity funds are available through a number of advice-based distribution channels including financial planners, investment dealers, banks, and insurance companies.
Read a fund's prospectus and consult your financial advisor before investing. Mutual funds, including exchange-traded funds, are not guaranteed; their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. Investors will pay management fees and expenses, may pay commissions or trailing commissions and may experience a gain or loss.
Fidelity systematic currency hedged funds use derivatives to mitigate the funds' exposure to changes in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar. While the systematic currency hedged strategy, a quantitative model used by the funds, aims to achieve the optimal exposure to the U.S. dollar at a point in time, there is no assurance that the strategy will be effective. The funds' returns will differ from the local currency returns of its underlying funds. Fidelity systematic currency hedged funds may also have exposure to other foreign currencies (such as the euro or the yen), which are not hedged. The funds' exposure to other foreign currencies may change at any time and the funds may choose to hedge these exposures in the future.
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SOURCE Fidelity Investments Canada ULC
Chris Pepper, Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Fidelity Investments Canada ULC, T: (416) 307-5388, M: (416) 795-7762, E: [email protected]
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