Wealth & Finance International - Fund Awards 2016

www.wealthandfinance-intl.com 25 BMO Global Asset Management Most Innovative Asia Focused ETF (1 Year): BMO Asia USD Investment Grade Bond ETF & Best ETF Provider 2016 - Asia BMO Global Asset Management is a global investment manager with US$238 billion of assets under management as of September 30th, 2016, and has offices in 14 countries servicing clients across five continents. It is a part of BMO Financial Group (NYSE / TSX: BMO), a fully diversified financial services organization with total assets of CA$692 billion as of July 31st, 2016, and more than 45,000 employees. Company: BMO Global Asset Management (Asia) Limited Website: http://www.bmo.com/gam BMO Global Asset Management is one of the fastest growing ETF providers globally, offering ETFs on Toronto, Hong Kong and London Stock Exchanges. Since launching its first four ETFs on TSX on June 4th 2009, BMO ETF business has grown rapidly to over 80 funds, with US$24 billion of assets under management, and a wide array of strat- egies including innovative smart beta and specialty solutions as well as strongly competitive broad market benchmark funds. Since announcing the establishment of BMO Global Asset Management (Asia) Limited in Hong Kong in December 2013, its Asia business has developed investment solutions in both active and smart beta forms, built a solid local investment team on the ground, and expanded its distribution capabilities to service investors across multiple geographies. Backed by the stability, size and global reach of BMO Financial Group, and drawing on the expertise of its global experienced passive investing team, BMO Global Asset Management (Asia) Limited launched three ETFs in Hong Kong on November 13th 2014, choosing Hong Kong as the city to be listing its first BMO ETFs outside of Canada. The offerings were structured to help address the demand for income, growth and access to the region’s robust financial sector. The three ETFs in Hong Kong were well accepted by retail and institutional investors alike, as well as recognized by the industry. On February 18, 2016, BMO expanded its platform and launched four more innovative ETFs, all achieving the first-of-its-kind in Hong Kong designed to provide local access to key sectors and global markets, and to generate high quality income for investors. It is a testament of BMO’s commitment to this region and the strong belief in the attractive growth and investment opportunities that exist in this market place. Recognized by the quality and innovative ETFs, BMO Global Asset Management won multiple industry awards on firm and product levels, including Wealth and Finance International’s Best ETF Provider 2016 – Asia and Most Innovative Asia Focused ETF (1 Year) for its BMO Asia USD Investment Grade Bond ETF. As one of the world’s top ten fixed income ETF providers by assets, BMO Global Asset Management brings the first ETF offering Asia USD investment grade exposure to Hong Kong with BMO Asia USD Invest- ment Grade Bond ETF (3141.HK) . Not only the first ETF of its kind in Hong Kong, it is also one of the few bond ETFs available in Asia. 3141. HK tracks the Bloomberg Barclays Asia USD Investment Grade Bond Index, which is a market captialisation weighted index that measures the performance of fixed rate USD denominated government-related and corporate investment grade bonds of the Asia ex-Japan region. By the nature of the product, it provides investors regular income and long-term capital preservation. This ETF invests in high credit quality bonds from Asian issuers, and value of the underlying bonds in this ETF had been relatively stable during the period of high volatility in the equi- ty space. 3141.HK provides core credit exposure of bonds from across the Asia ex-Japan region without being impacted by currency volatility. The low correlation with other asset classes results in strong diversifica- tion benefits. This ETF pays dividend on a quarterly basis. LA16032