New Faith-Based Issuer Debuts Active Catholic ETF
The fund enters the Christian-oriented thematic sector.
A new religious-oriented ETF issuer has launched its first product, and it’s taking on a well-established Catholic fund.
Newcomer Faith Investor Services launched the FIS Knights of Columbus Global Belief ETF (KOCG) on Wednesday on the NYSE Arca.
The fund is actively managed alongside the asset management arm of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal group, and follows investing guidelines set by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Other than its moral considerations, the fund is not limited by market capitalization, geography or other factors when compiling its portfolio.
Competitor To CATH
KOCG is similar in principle to the Global X S&P 500 Catholic Values ETF (CATH), but carries a few differences in investment style. CATH broadly tracks a version of the S&P 500 that strips out any companies deemed to be generating revenue from industries the USCCB doesn’t approve of.
In contrast, KOCG could in theory shoot for a broader set of companies because it isn’t limiting itself to securities on U.S. exchanges or those that don’t qualify for the S&P 500. However, KOCG charges an expense ratio of 0.75%, making it more than twice as expensive as CATH at 0.29%.
The new fund is also competing against offerings from Inspire ETFs, an older issuer with eight Christian thematic funds and just over $884 million in assets under management.
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