Stocks

FaithShares Religious ETFs

Apparently… this is for real!

Source: IndexUniverse

FaithShares ETFs Will Target Christians

FaithShares Inc., which is advised by FaithShares Advisors, is asking
the Securities and Exchange Commission for approval to offer five new
SRI-themed ETFs that target different branches of Christianity. The
funds include:

  • The FaithShares Baptist Values Fund
  • The FaithShares Catholic Values Fund
  • The FaithShares Christian Values Fund
  • The FaithShares Lutheran Values Fund
  • The FaithShares Methodist Values Fund

Each will be based on an index methodology of KLD Research & Analytics, a research firm that specializes in socially responsible investing and has developed a number of well-known SRI indexes.

The FaithShares will be based on indexes from KLD that feature components that have been screened according to the social values of their respective religion. FTSE Group, the well-known international index provider, will calculate the indexes. Various broad FTSE indexes will also be used as benchmarks against the KLD indexes.

The FaithShares funds will focus on large-cap U.S. stocks. KLD will rank those companies by various SRI-themed screens and pick the top 100 for each fund. The funds themselves will then be equal-weighted.