Canada’s first listed Islamic ETF feeds growing demand but different products also needed, says industry

Last month, Canada got its first-ever listed Islamic Exchange Traded Fund, a welcome addition to the country’s emerging Shariah-compliant financial sector. While an Islamic finance provider points out that the passive equity-based halal ETF sector is starting to become crowded, the other side of the story is that they are feeding increasing demand.

Toronto-based Wealthsimple’s Shariah World Equity Index ETF joins SP Funds Dow Jones Global Sukuk ETF, SP Funds S&P 500 Sharia Industry Exclusions ETF, Wahed Invest’s FTSE Shariah ETF as well as  SP Funds S&P Global REIT Shariah ETF.  Additionally, depending on the broker, Canadians can also buy BlackRock's iShares suite of Islamic ETFs. Other Islamic ETFs available include Almalia Sanlam Active Shariah Global Equity UCITS ETF.

Ben Reeves, Wealthsimple chief investment officer, highlighted the competitive advantage of his company’s new Islamic product. “[It is] the only one offering a globally diversified set of stocks available to Canadians, and the only one that uses quantitative risk management techniques to address some of the issues investors run into with market cap weighted equities,” Reeves told Salaam Gateway.