New Fixed Income Solutions for Canadians Seeking Stability and Risk Management in a Changing Market Environment

Franklin Templeton introduces diversified fixed income portfolio and Canadian government bond fund

TORONTO, Nov. 16, 2016 /CNW/ - Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. today announced the launch of two new products, Franklin Quotential Fixed Income Portfolio and Franklin Bissett Canadian Government Bond Fund, for Canadian investors seeking diversified fixed income investments to help manage risk in a shifting market and interest rate environment. 

"Canadians are concerned about recent volatility in the markets and are unsure about what will happen with interest rates given the recent news out of the US," said Duane Green, managing director - Canada, Franklin Templeton Investments Corp. "These new fixed income solutions can help investors mitigate risk in their portfolio and prepare for what's next in the markets by complementing their equity investments with core fixed income."

Sophisticated Core Fixed Income Solution

Franklin Quotential Fixed Income Portfolio is an all-in-one core solution for investors looking to add fixed income to their portfolio.

The fund provides investors with an actively managed mix of domestic and foreign fixed income. Franklin Templeton Solutions employs a tactical asset allocation strategy across multiple fixed income sectors and regions – such as government, corporate and high-yield bonds – both domestically and abroad. While investing primarily in mutual funds and ETFs, active adjustments to allocations and currency exposures aim to capitalize on short-term opportunities and manage risk when the investing climate changes.

"Actively adjusting allocations and currency exposure, while keeping a close eye on risk, is a key focus for our team when managing the entire spectrum of target-risk portfolios in Franklin Quotential," said Stephen Lingard, senior vice president and portfolio manager, Franklin Templeton Solutions.

The portfolio is co-managed by Lingard and Michael Greenberg, vice president and portfolio manager, Franklin Templeton Solutions. They have more than 22 years and 13 years of industry experience, respectively.

Depending on market conditions, the team has the flexibility to adjust the asset allocation mix of Franklin Quotential Fixed Income Portfolio, between 25 per cent to 75 per cent domestic fixed income, and 25 per cent to 75 per cent foreign fixed income. The portfolio can include Franklin Templeton and third-party mutual funds and ETFs to achieve targeted allocations.

Franklin Quotential is a comprehensive investment solution with six multi-asset portfolios that provide investors with an institutional level of diversification by asset class, investment style and geography, with little duplication at the security level. The C$8.5 billion¹ Franklin Quotential program is backed by a global investment team dedicated to using a disciplined approach to multi-asset management, seeking to mitigate risks and maximize returns for investors' portfolios.

Franklin Quotential Fixed Income Fund is available in Series A, F, O and PF.

Domestic Government Bond Fund

Franklin Bissett Canadian Government Bond Fund seeks to provide investors with an opportunity to accumulate steady income and potentially offset overall portfolio risk by actively participating in Canada's historically stable government bond market. The fund aims to provide a steady flow of income, offsetting portfolio risk and capitalizing on market dislocations through extensive research.

"With Franklin Bissett Canadian Government Bond Fund, we focus on investing in high-quality bonds issued by all three levels of government in Canada and government agencies to provide investors with stable income, while helping reduce overall market risk," said Tom O'Gorman, director of fixed income, senior vice president and portfolio manager, Franklin Bissett Investment Management.

The fund is co-managed by O'Gorman and Darcy Briggs, vice president and portfolio manager, Franklin Bissett Investment Management. They have more than 26 and 22 years of industry experience, respectively.

Franklin Bissett Canadian Government Bond Fund is available in Series F, O and PF.

About Franklin Templeton Solutions
Franklin Templeton Solutions (FTS) is an integrated global investment platform that manages both custom and packaged multi-asset portfolios based on its Strategic Asset Allocation, Tactical Asset Allocation and manager research capabilities. FTS' team of over 80 dedicated professionals globally, leverages the insights and investment strategies from Franklin Templeton's various investment management groups and employs both strategic and tactical asset allocation to create diversified outcome-oriented portfolios focused on risk-adjusted performance and tailored to client needs. FTS has more than 25 years of experience managing multi-asset and multi-style portfolios, with approximately US$40 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2016. Amongst FTS' offerings are retirement target and global asset allocation portfolios.

About Franklin Bissett Investment Management
For more than 33 years, Franklin Bissett Investment Management has been applying a disciplined team approach to managing equity, fixed income and balanced portfolios for Canadian retail and institutional investors. Franklin Bissett's Canadian Fixed Income group manages multiple portfolios including multi-sector, credit and duration-targeted strategies, is a research-driven team with a disciplined and risk-focused investment style. The Calgary-based team combines top-down macro analysis with bottom-up security selection and quantitative analysis to build diversified portfolios of active, low-correlated positions with favorable risk/return characteristics.

About Franklin Templeton Investments
Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton Investments. Franklin Templeton Investments provides global and domestic investment management to retail, institutional and sovereign wealth clients in over 180 countries. Through specialized teams, the company has expertise across all asset classes—including equity, fixed income, alternative and custom solutions. The company's more than 600 investment professionals are supported by its integrated, worldwide team of risk management professionals and global trading desk network. With offices in 35 countries, the California–based company has more than 65 years of investment experience and US$723 billion (over C$970 billion) in assets under management as of October 31, 2016.

For more information, please visit franklintempleton.ca or connect with Franklin Templeton on Twitter (@FTI_Global) and read the Beyond Bulls & Bears blog featuring perspectives from Franklin Templeton investment professionals around the world.

1. As of October 31, 2016.

Copyright © 2016. Franklin Templeton Investments. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Franklin Templeton Investments Corp.

Media contact: Sarah Kingdon, Corporate Communications, Franklin Templeton Investments, 416.957.6191