Workplace equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees will be the focus of a new product being launched by ALPS.

According to the SEC filing, the Workplace Equality Fund will follow an index composed of the stocks of roughly 140 firms which support LGBT equality.

The filing describes the index in this way:

The Fund employs a “passive management” – or indexing – investment approach designed to track the performance of the Index. The Index is designed to provide a means of tracking the performance of companies which support workplace equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) employees. The Index consists of approximately 140 publicly traded stocks of U.S. and foreign companies which support equality for LGBT employees through their workplace practices, including non-discrimination policies regarding sexual orientation and gender identity and providing full benefits to for same-sex spouses, domestic partners and transgender individuals. The Index is compiled by Denver Investment Advisors LLC (“Denver Investments” or the “Index Provider”). The Index Provider uses publicly available lists and screening sources to identify companies with workplace policies that meet the Index’s criteria, in addition to the Index Provider’s own proprietary database for LGBT screening. The criteria are subject to change in response to changes in law.

According to the filing, Michael Akins, senior vice president, director of Index Management & Product Oversight of ALPS Advisors, Inc. is responsible for the day to day management of the fund. 

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