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The National Bank launches a new National Bank/Fidelity Fund
Montreal, 13 November 2001 - National Bank Securities Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Bank of Canada, announced the launch of a new fund in its National Bank/Fidelity Fund Family. The new fund-on-fund is known as the National Bank/Fidelity True North Fund and is entirely based on the Fidelity True North Fund offered by Fidelity Investments. The True North Fund recently reached it's five-year anniversary and its performance for the period earned it a Morningstar Five Star ranking.
The new fund is part of the family launched a year ago by National Bank, which included the following funds at the time it was launched :
- National Bank/Fidelity Canadian Asset Allocation Fund;
- National Bank/Fidelity Global Asset Allocation Fund;
- National Bank/Fidelity International Portfolio Fund;
- National Bank/Fidelity Growth America Fund;
- National Bank/Fidelity Focus Financial Services Fund.
By way of the underlying Fidelity fund, the objective of the new National Bank/Fidelity fund is to achieve long-term capital growth by investing primarily in Canadian equity securities.
Jean Blouin, Vice-President - Retail Investment Solutions at the National Bank, explained that "We chose this fund because it gives our clients the opportunity to diversify their Canadian equity investments by management style". The principal management firm for National Bank Mutual Funds, Natcan Investment Management, favours a value approach, whereas the True North Fund, managed by Alan Radlo of Fidelity, uses an approach based on growth at a reasonable price (GARP). History has proven that each approach is favoured by a different stage of the economic cycle.
"We will propose this fund to clients with a fairly aggressive investor profile; in other words, clients whose tolerance to risk allows for enough Canadian equities to be included so as to diversify this portion of their portfolio between two funds." Our basic portfolios for the Aggressive, Intrepid and Intrepid Plus profiles allocate a portion to the National Bank Canadian Equity Fund and another to the National Bank/Fidelity True North Fund.
Mr. Blouin added that "Our experts have analyzed the complementary aspect of the two management styles over a number of time periods and have come to the conclusion that adding a "GARP" fund to a portfolio consisting mainly of "value" funds increases its potential return and reduces the risk."
National Bank Securities has already obtained the receipt from the Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick securities commissions giving it the necessary approval to start selling the fund. The fund is therefore available at various branches. Investors can also purchase units of the new fund via the National Bank Mutual Funds Advisory Service, a call centre, or through National Bank Discount Brokerage, another subsidiary of the National Bank.
The National Bank/Fidelity True North Fund is 100% RRSP-eligible and is available through the Periodic Investment Plan. Management fees are the same as for the underlying fund, i.e. 2.00%, and distributions will be made on an annual basis. There are no front-load, back-load or transfer fees for this fund.
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National Bank of Canada is an integrated group which provides comprehensive financial services to consumers, small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations in its core market, while offering specialized services to its clients elsewhere in the world. The National Bank offers a full array of banking services, including all the investment banking services required by large corporations. It is an active player on international capital markets and, through its subsidiaries, is involved in securities brokerage, insurance and wealth management as well as mutual fund and retirement plan management. The National Bank has assets of over $73 billion and, together with its subsidiaries, it employs over 16,600 people. The Bank's shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Fidelity Investments is the fifth largest investment fund company in Canada, and it is part of Fidelity Investments of Boston, the largest mutual fund company in the world. In Canada, Fidelity manages assets of more than $32 billion, and provides investors with a complete range of Canadian and foreign funds. Fidelity funds are available through a number of advice-based distribution channels including financial planners, investment dealers, banks and insurance companies. |
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| Information: |
Jean Blouin
Vice-President
Deposit Solutions
Tel.: (514) 394-8969
e-mail : jean.blouin@bnc.ca
Carole Gagné
Senior Manager
Public Relations Department
Tel.: (514) 394-6991
e-mail: carole.gagne@bnc.ca |
*The telephone numbers and e-mail addresses are for the exclusive use of journalists and other media representatives. |
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