FaithShares To Liquidate All But One Of Its ETFs

In another sign that socially-responsible investing is a tricky gambit for fund issuers, Oklahoma-based FaithShares, the ETF issuer that burst onto the scene in 2009 with five ETFs targeted at various Christian denominations, said it will liquidate four of those ETFs in July. FaithShares will send the the Baptist Values ETF FZB, the Catholic Values ETF FZC, the Lutheran Values ETF FKL and the Methodist Values ETF FMV packing, but the firm will continue to sponsor the Christian Values ETF FOC. The four ETFs being liquidated have just $7.8 million in assets under management combined. FaithShares said it was becoming costly to keep the four funds open while they were not attracting enough assets. The firm did say it expects to make a positive announcement about FOC in the coming weeks. Thus far in 2011, just one exchange traded product has closed. That was the Barclays ETN + Short D BXDD, which was closed earlier this month. At the end of April, FaithShares had just $11 million in assets under management, a sharp decline from the $14 million in AUM the firm had at the end of April 2010, according to data from the National Stock Exchange.