TD Asset Management (TDAM) announced today the launch of two new mutual funds, TD North American Sustainability Equity Fund and TD North American Sustainability Balanced Fund, adding to the company’s suite of sustainability-focused products. The company also introduced the TDAM Sustainable Investment Approach, a new philosophy that further articulates the Bank’s dedication to investing responsibly and serves as a guidepost for how each of TDAM’s investment teams’ approach ESG integration.

Robert Vanderhooft, Chief Investment Officer, TDAM, said:

“We know an investment strategy that includes environmental, social and or corporate governance factors are important to Canadians and is something that they want to actively hold in their portfolios. Incorporating sustainability into our investment decisions has been a long-standing commitment for us. We are proud to offer these two new funds to help investors achieve their financial goals while aligning their investments with their values to make a positive impact.”

TDAM described the new funds as follows:

• TD North American Sustainability Equity Fund is an active North American equity solution that combines TDAM’s fundamental research process with experience in ESG integration (the integration of Environment, Social, and Governance criteria when selecting investments) to invest primarily in a diversified portfolio of North American securities. Security selection will focus on an issuer’s ability to profitably generate and grow free cash flow and its efficiency at allocating capital, while also demonstrating positive contributions towards the Sustainable Development Goals as set out by the United Nations. This fund offers active fundamental management, a robust investment process and disciplined integrated ESG approach with fundamental risk diversification.
• TD North American Sustainability Balanced Fund is a core North American balanced fund, which seeks to earn income with the potential for capital appreciation while following a socially responsible approach to investing. This fund will focus on investing in a combination of common share and bond investments that demonstrate positive contributions towards the Sustainable Development Goals as set out by the United Nations. The common share investments will tend to focus on industry leaders that, in our view, have sustainable competitive advantages evidenced by the high returns on capital, strong balance sheets and management teams that are able to manage capital efficiently. The bond investments will focus on a combination of ESG screened bonds that leverage TDAM’s proprietary ESG scoring system to select issuers with below average ESG risks across the fixed income universe and ESG designed bonds, which include bonds issued under a Green, Sustainable or Transition bond framework.

TDAM stated that it integrates an ESG analysis within its investment process to provide an additional lens for a more robust investment analysis and many of the asset manger’s actively managed funds have ESG factors integrated into the investment decision-making. TDAM applies a three-pronged approach to company risk assessment that includes investment analysis, engagement with companies across a broad range of industries and proxy voting.

Vanderhooft added:

“We’ve also recently formed a dedicated ESG Research and Engagement team that will work to ensure that we have consistency in our ESG approach across all asset classes. As one of the first Canadian bank-owned asset managers to a be signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, we have a long history of responsibly managing the environmental, social and community impacts of our business and we are excited to continue leading in this space.”