Impact investment firm Inspire Investing has expanded its suite of biblically responsible ETFs with the launch of a pair of actively managed funds targeting the large and mid-cap segments of the US equity market.
Robert Netzly, CEO of Inspire Investing.
The Inspire Faithward Large Cap Momentum ETF (FEVR US) and Inspire Faithward Mid Cap Momentum ETF (GLRY US) have listed on NYSE Arca and come with expense ratios of 0.85%.
The funds are sub-advised by Faithward Capital, a Pennsylvania-based asset manager helping financial advisors and institutions align their investments with Christian values.
The ETFs utilize a dual screening process that first addresses matters of faith before filtering based on technical factors.
In the first part of this process, the initial universe of stocks is screened according to Inspire’s faith-based and sustainability requirements to identify companies which it describes as “businesses of blessing.”
Any company with operations linked to abortion, alcohol, gambling, tobacco, pornography, or human rights violations is excluded. Companies that promote or advocate for LGBT+ communities are also removed.
The remaining constituents are then assigned an ESG rating based upon Inspire Investing’s Impact Score methodology which covers several ESG categories including corporate governance, data security and privacy, environmental stewardship, innovation, labor practices, marketing ethics, political action, renewable energy, social impact, and supply chain. Impact Scores range from -100 to +100 and only firms with a score greater than zero will make it through to the next stage.
In the second stage of the process, Faithward Capital deploys a proprietary screening process that uses both technical and fundamental analysis to identify between 40 and 50 stocks that exhibit share price momentum and high growth potential based on financial health, earnings trends, valuation, risk, and relative strength.
The Inspire Faithward Large Cap Momentum ETF is derived from an initial universe of companies with market capitalizations greater than $10 billion, while the Inspire Faithward Mid Cap Momentum ETF is based on companies with market caps between $3bn and $10bn.
Robert Netzly, CEO of Inspire Investing, commented, “We have continued to see an increase in demand for faith-based investments, even in the midst of a pandemic. We are humbled to be able to launch two biblically responsible options with Faithward Capital for those investors looking to incorporate active management in their portfolios.”
Jay Peroni, Senior Portfolio Manager at Faithward Capital, added, “We are truly excited to partner with Inspire to launch these ETFs to the masses. Our team is thrilled to be able to better serve our clients using our active biblically responsible investment management strategies while also expanding the biblically responsible investing universe.”
The new launches bring the total number of biblically responsible ETFs offered by Inspire to eight, collectively housing around $650 million in assets under management.
Most recently, the firm introduced the world’s first actively managed faith-based ETF in July – the Inspire Tactical Balanced ESG ETF (RISN US). RISN invests in US large-cap stocks and contains a risk-management overlay that shifts into defensive assets when the equity market outlook is unfavourable.