KeyCorp is launching a mutual fund aimed at African-American investors and those who support the benefits of ethnic diversity.
The fund - Victory Lakefront Fund - is also thought to be the nation's first fund targeting black investors introduced by one of the nation's largest banking companies.
The fund will invest in companies that take an active role in promoting the benefits of economic diversity, KeyCorp said. Industry experts say that means the fund could invest in companies that have aggressive policies for hiring and promoting minorities, for example.
Lakefront Capital Investors Inc., a minority-owned firm, will manage the fund along with Key Asset Management Inc., KeyCorp's investment management unit. Both companies are based in Cleveland.
Nathaniel Carter, Lakefront Capital's president, said the fund's goal is to generate high returns and make companies the fund invests in aware that shareholders view diversity as a key component of long-term success.
Mr. Carter said American Express Co., Texas Instruments Inc., Eastman Kodak Co. and Reebok International Inc. are among the companies that the fund will invest in.
The Victory Lakefront Fund joins a growing number of mutual funds that target ethnic groups or socially conscious investors, said Alice Lowenstein, associate editor of Morningstar Mutual Fund, a trade publication.
She said it's too early to tell what type of success, reach or impact the fund will have with individual investors or companies that it invests in. But the fund is not the first aimed at African-Americans: There's also the Calvert New Africa Fund.
