On Tuesday, Inspire Investing added to its ETF library with the launch of the Inspire 500 ETF (NYSE Arca: PTL)
The fund has a low net expense ratio of 0.09%, on par with the cost of the largest ETF in the world, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). PTL aims to track the results of the Inspire 500 Index. The underlying index comprises the 500 largest companies in the United States that have cleared Inspire’s screening regarding alignment with biblical values and other criteria.
Along with its faith-based considerations, Inspire evaluates companies based on a multitude of other criteria*. These include business ethics, ecological impact, and ethical labor practices. Inspire aims to update its screening at regular intervals. Additionally, companies that fail subsequent screenings will be removed from the index.
PTL is primarily a large-cap fund. According to the fund prospectus, Inspire categorizes large-cap companies as those in the top 10% of the U.S. equity market.
Large-Cap Exposure
“PTL opens up a whole new world of low-cost, index investing for faith-based investors,” Inspire CEO Robert Netzly noted.
“Inspire has been pushing costs lower for faith-based ETF investors since 2017. And now with our scale and growth we are thrilled to be able to bring a 9-basis point ETF to market and stand toe to toe against the biggest ETFs in the world on cost. God willing, I believe PTL will be the first billion-dollar faith-based ETF,” he added.
Furthermore, to capture the performance of the index efficiently, the fund may use a representative sampling method to cultivate exposure rather than holding all 500 components.
Inspire Investing currently has 9 ETFs listed in the United States. These funds represent over $1.4 billion in assets under management. Lastly, the largest fund, the Inspire 100 ETF (BIBL), currently has more than $370 million in assets under management.
*Editor’s note: The original version of this story said that in addition to faith-based principles, the index methodology also evaluated companies based on “widely accepted ESG factors”. However, Inspire renounced the term “ESG” in August 2022 and no longer uses it in reference to its funds.
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