Religion Meets Profit Generation in a Slew of New Faith-Based ETFs

Wahed Invest launched its first exchange-traded fund in the U.S. in July 2019. In June 2020, money manager Global X filed to launch a bond fund aligned to Catholic values. The surge in religious ETF offerings has come alongside the boom in responsible investing, often referred to by the shorthand ESG, for environmental, social, and governance. Global assets in ETFs under the ESG category have almost doubled in the past year, now reaching more than $110 billion. Wahed FTSE USA Shariah ETF tracks an index compiled by the FTSE Russell, which works with a board of experts that determines each company is compliant. Wahed’s ETF has seen inflows of about $35 million since its July 2019 launch.