Calamos Investments, a financial services company headquartered in Naperville, Ill., has launched a global sustainable equities fund led by industry pioneers Anthony Tursich and James Madden.
The Calamos Global Sustainable Equities Fund (CGSIX) seeks to invest in socially conscious companies in both developed and emerging markets—companies with above-average growth potential that meet defined environmental, social and governance criteria. The fund uses a proprietary ESG ranking system that examines both a company’s quantitative and qualitative factors, including its position and practices on environmental stewardship, human rights and equality, societal impact, and corporate governance.
Tursich and Madden joined Calamos last year but have been managing sustainable investment strategies since the 1990s.
Calamos currently manages more than $40 billion in client assets worldwide.
Federated Hermes Debuts Two New Short-Duration ETFs
Federated Hermes Inc. has introduced two new short-duration exchange-traded funds for investors concerned about inflation and the potential interest-rate risk associated with products that invest in longer-duration securities.
The Federated Hermes Short-Duration High Yield ETF (FHYS) seeks high current income by investing in a diversified portfolio of high-yield bonds, bank loans and other securities over an investment horizon of three years or less. The ETF is managed by a 14-member team that includes portfolio managers Steven Wagner, Tony Venturino and Mark Durbiano.
The Federated Hermes Short-Duration Corporate ETF (FCSH) seeks current income by investing primarily in securities with maturities of one to five years; it will maintain a duration between 1.5 and 3.5 years. The strategy may also invest up to 10% of its portfolio in non-investment-grade fixed-income securities.
The ETF’s management team includes portfolio managers John Gentry and Robert Matthews.
Pittsburgh-based Federated Hermes had $634.1 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2021.
WisdomTree Unveils Gold Mining ETF As Inflation Hedge
WisdomTree Investments Inc., a New York City-based exchange-traded fund and exchange-traded product sponsor and asset manager, has launched the WisdomTree Efficient Gold Plus Gold Miners Strategy Fund (GDMN), which invests in a portfolio of global equity securities issued by companies in the gold mining business. The investments are primarily weighted by modified market capitalization, as well as U.S.-listed gold futures contracts. The fund uses gold futures to enhance its capital efficiency and stand out from traditional gold miner ETFs or leveraged gold miner ETFs.
Since investors who are bullish on gold often conduct two separate trades to allocate funds to both the physical precious metal and the equities of miners, the new strategy seeks to consolidate the process for them by evenly distributing 90% of the total amount of invested funds between both categories, doubling the potential for return on investment as well.
The actively managed ETF has an expense ratio of 0.45%.
Snappy Kraken Debuts Marketing Assessment Tool For Advisors
Snappy Kraken, a marketing technology company headquartered in Ormond Beach, Fla., has launched a personalized and free tool that advisors can use to both assess their marketing weaknesses and remedy them.
Using the new Marketing Opportunity Score Assessment (MOSA) tool, financial advisory firms can take a 28-question survey that will define and quantify the impact of marketing on their bottom line in less than five minutes. The survey covers key areas of marketing, including social media, video use and lead generation.
Once an advisor completes the survey, the assessment tool will generate a 15-page report that includes a plan of action based on the firm’s current marketing status and challenges.
DPL Launches Commission-Free MYGA Marketplace For RIAs
DPL Financial Partners, the Louisville, Ky.-based turnkey insurance platform for RIAs, has launched an online marketplace for commission-free multi-year guaranteed annuities (MYGAs).
The MYGA Marketplace includes products from four carriers, offering fee-only advisors a range of terms and annual rates for clients seeking a safe, higher-yielding alternative to cash or fixed income.
The marketplace offers products with durations of three to 10 years and rates ranging from 2.10% to 3.25% depending on the amount invested and duration. The products are available to DPL’s 1,300 direct member firms, as well as another 2,000 firms that have access through advisor desktop platforms.
Artisan Introduces Floating Rate Fund
Milwaukee-based Artisan Partners has launched the Artisan Floating Rate Fund to meet market demand for leveraged loans.
Bryan Krug will lead management of the portfolio in partnership with Seth Yeager. The Artisan Partners credit team will use the same investment philosophy and process used in the high income and credit opportunities strategies to build a focused portfolio designed to generate high current income and excess returns relative to its benchmark, the Credit Suisse Leveraged Loan Index.