iShares Balanced Income CorePortfolio Index ETF - CBD

ETF Overview

The fund of ETFs – providing an asset allocation solution that is efficient, balanced and diversified.

The fund has been designed to replicate, to the extent possible, the performance of the Sabrient Global Balanced Income Index.

The fund spans several core asset classes, including Canadian and Global Equity, Emerging Markets Equity, Global Real Estate, Fixed Income, Preferred Shares, Commodities, in one low-cost fund.

iShares Balanced Income CorePortfolio Index Fund mandates a focus on ETFs containing dividend and income equities and fixed income securities.

The strategic allocation of the index is rebalanced quarterly by Sabrient to preserve the original profile.

Additional Index Information

The Sabrient Global Balanced Indexes are designed to identify a group of existing ETFs that together provide a balanced allocation to equities and fixed income within defined ranges.

Key ETF Data

Fundamentals
Category (main)	Global multi-asset classes - Balanced Income
Category (other)	Fund of funds
Underlying Index	Sabrient Global Balanced Income Index
ETF Structure	ETF of ETFs (ie fund of funds)
Asset Class	Multi-asset classes - Balanced Income
Region	Global
Issuer	iShares Canada by Blackrock
ETF Home Page	Available here

Fund Facts
Inception Date	20 Jun 2007
Total Holdings	17 (895) *1
Distribution Frequency	Monthly
Leverage	None
Significant Currency Exposure	Yes
Currency Hedging	Maybe *2

*1 Holds various iShares ETFs

*2 Prospectus states fund MAY employ currency hedging

Fees
Management Fee	0.25%
Management Expense Ratio (MER)	0.72%

Trading Information
Ticker	CBD
Exchange	TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange)
Currency	CAD

Eligibility
Eligibility *	RRSP, RRIF, RESP, TFSA, DPSP, RDSP
DRIP available **	Yes
PACC Plan available **	Yes
SWP available **	Yes

* Always check eligibility with your plan operator as plans and accounts can differ

** Not all brokers can facilitate these plans. Check with your broker.

Current Price, Fund Performance, Yield, NAV, Charts etc

To view the TSX or Morningstar fund page for this ETF click on the Fund Data menu tab or below:

ETF Analysis

Blackrock need to improve their website and fund Fact Sheets.

Neither make these important aspects clear for this fund:

the country breakdown of the assets held (important for determining currency risk)
what currency risk the fund has
whether currency hedging is employed to mitigate or eliminate currency risk - we had to search through a 130+ page prospectus to determine that the fund MAY employ currency hedging at the discretion of the Blackrock fund manager
discretionary hedging is not good enough - the potential investor does not know whether it will be employed or not, so they do not know to the extent to which they are exposed to currency risk
the Canadian dollar has gained or lost up to 20% in a given year against the US dollar so currency risk is a significant risk no investor should ignore or take lightly

We also encourage Blackrock to look at ways of reducing the fund's MER ().

An MER that is circa 3x the Management Fee seems unreasonable and excessive to us.