Smarten Up Institute launches Leveraged ETF course

SUI offers Smart Specialist in ETFs Designation       

TORONTO, March 27, 2015 /CNW/ - The Smarten Up Institute ("SUI"), a leading independent provider of quality financial education, has launched the country's first complete course on investing in leveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs).

The 12-hour course, "Leveraged ETFs," teaches students the principles and applications of leveraged ETFs, which as the name implies, are ETFs that provide leveraged exposure to a selection of benchmark indices and commodities. 

With the number of ETF listing in Canada nearing 400, it's becoming more important than ever for investors, advisors and even regulators to understand both the basics and increasing complexities of the Canadian ETF market.

"We are big supporters of SUI's mandate to offer comprehensive ETF-focused education to Canadians. There have been many developments in the ETF industry over the last 10 years, which is why it is important to continue educating investors and advisors on the advancements of these products," says Howard Atkinson, President of Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. "As the only provider of leveraged ETFs in Canada, we have worked closely with SUI to develop course content that includes practical investment applications, since leveraged ETFs are tactical trading tools that can be used for a multitude of purposes such as generating higher returns, as well as portfolio hedging." 

Completion of the Leveraged ETF course will provide 12 hours or credits towards the ETF Smart Specialist Certificate, the only ETF-focused designation in Canada. Advisors and other industry professionals can obtain their designation after completing 72 hours of course work across at least six courses and take home assignments.  Information on Smarten Up Institute certificates is available on the IIROC and the Smarten Up Institute website at www.smartenupinstitute.com.

"The Smarten Up Institute has built one of the largest suites of ETF-focused education courses in North America. Our course on Leveraged ETFs is the fifth we have launched that is specific to ETF investing," says Laurie M. Clark, President and CEO of SUI. "Canadian investors' assets within ETFs have grown at more than 25% per annum over the last 10 years, which now represents more than $80 billion in assets under management. As rapid growth of ETF products and investment strategies continue, we need to ensure that financial literacy evolves to keep up."

The introduction of the Canadian Securities Administrator's Client Relationship Model 2 ("CRM 2") and its three-year rollout, which will result in greater client fee transparency and disclosure, is expected to be a further catalyst for increased ETF adoption in Canada. Other developed markets that have introduced similar fee transparency legislation, such as the U.K. and Australia, saw ETF asset growth rise considerably.

"There has been a strong correlation between the increasing disclosure of fees and commissions and a greater demand for lower-cost and transparent investment products," says Ms. Clark. "Among the key characteristics of ETFs are lower fees and increased transparency.  Advisors are encouraged to meet higher proficiency standards with all products and specifically ETF compliance, tax, and trading education that ultimately best serves the investing public."

List of Courses Eligible for Smart Specialist in ETFs Designation

Courses	Hours of Credit	Online/Classroom
CETFA Online Introduction to ETFs Course	4	Online
CETFA Online Advanced ETF Course	6	Online
Advanced ETFs	6	Classroom
Science of ETFs	16	Classroom
Leveraged ETF Course	12	Both
A Guide to Understanding the Derivatives Market	9	Online
CRM 2  or AML Courses	6	Classroom/Online
Ethics Online	2	Online
Final Assignment	15-25	Take home

About Smarten Up Institute

Smarten Up Institute (www.smartenupinstitute.com) provides real world financial and securities education to industry professionals including wealth managers, investment and private banking, retail, private equity, asset management, hedge funds, trading specialists, compliance specialists, ICPMs, and their entire support staff. Foundation courses include: Product/Trading/Technology/Strategy/Compliance/Regulatory/Credit & Risk/IT and Operations. Great classroom, online and customized instruction led by the industry's best and most respected experts. The Smarten Up Institute is proud to be an employee owned, Canadian company.

About Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. (www.HorizonsETFs.com)

Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. and its affiliate AlphaPro Management Inc. are innovative financial services companies offering the Horizons ETFs family of exchange-traded funds. The Horizons ETFs family includes a broadly diversified range of investment tools with solutions for investors of all experience levels to meet their investment objectives in a variety of market conditions. Horizons ETFs has more than $4.4 billion of assets under management and with 73 ETFs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (as at February 28, 2015), the Horizons ETFs family makes up one of the largest families of ETFs in Canada. Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. and AlphaPro Management Inc. are members of the Mirae Asset Financial Group.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with an investment in exchange traded products managed by AlphaPro Management Inc. and Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. (the "Horizons Exchange Traded Products"). The Horizons Exchange Traded Products are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. The prospectus contains important detailed information about the Horizons Exchange Traded Products. Please read the relevant prospectus before investing.

The Horizons Exchange Traded Products consist of the Horizons Index ETFs ("Index ETFs"), Bull Plus and Bear Plus ETFs ("Plus ETFs"), Inverse ETFs ("Inverse ETFs"), VIX ETFs (defined below) and active ETFs. The Plus ETFs and certain other Horizons Exchange Traded Products use leveraged investment techniques that can magnify gains and losses and may result in greater volatility of returns. These Horizons Exchange Traded Products are subject to leverage risk and may be subject to aggressive investment risk and price volatility risk, which, where applicable, are described in their respective prospectuses. Each Plus ETF seeks a return, before fees and expenses, that is either 200% or -200% of the performance of a specified underlying index, commodity or benchmark (the "Target") for a single day. Each Index ETF or Inverse ETF seeks a return that is 100% or - 100%, respectively, of the performance of a Target. Due to the compounding of daily returns, a Plus ETF's or Inverse ETF's returns over periods other than one day will likely differ in amount and possibly direction from the performance of their respective Target(s) for the same period. The Horizons Exchange Traded Products whose Target is the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index™ (the "VIX ETFs"), one of which is a Plus ETF and one of which is an Index ETF, as described in their prospectus, are speculative investment tools that are not conventional investments. The VIX ETFs' Target is highly volatile. As a result, the VIX ETFs are not generally viewed as stand-alone long-term investments. Historically, the VIX ETFs' Target has tended to revert to a historical mean. As a result, the performance of the VIX ETFs' Target is expected to be negative over the longer term and neither the VIX ETFs nor their Target are expected to have positive long term performance. Investors should monitor their holdings, as frequently as daily, to ensure that they remain consistent with their investment strategies.

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to a future outlook and anticipated distributions, events or results and may include statements regarding future financial performance. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by terms such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "intend" or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Actual results may vary from such forward-looking information. Horizons ETFs undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or other such factors which affect this information, except as required by law.

SOURCE Smarten Up Institute

Laurie M. Clark, CEO, Smarten Up Institute Inc., [phone], Ext. 301, [email protected]; Howard Atkinson, President, Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. , [phone], [email protected]

Related Links

www.horizonsetfs.com