Key Morningstar Metrics for NBI Balanced Portfolio
- : NeutralMorningstar Medalist Rating
- : AverageProcess Pillar
- : AveragePeople Pillar
- : AverageParent Pillar
- : Actively ManagedIndex/Active
National Bank Investments’ Portfolios are a suite of six target-risk funds, ranging from 20% equity and 80% fixed income in the NBI Secure Portfolio to 100% equity in the NBI Equity Portfolio. The strategy differs from many of its Morningstar Category peers through its open-architecture fund-of-funds structure, with each portfolio investing in 15 to 25 underlying strategies selected by NBI’s manager research team. Tactical asset allocation provides an additional potential return lever and is implemented through the stand-alone NBI Tactical Asset Allocation, which is managed by NBI’s CIO office.
Team stability and governance are strengths. The key individuals overseeing the strategy have remained in place since its 2017 inception, and both manager oversight and tactical allocation follow well-defined frameworks with committee oversight. This supports consistency and discipline in decision-making. The oversight process can, and has, led to manager reviews and terminations when performance concerns arose or portfolio manager changes occurred at underlying funds. However, the Process and People ratings remain Average as oversight appears more focused on monitoring existing mandates than on maintaining broad coverage of best-in-class managers across the global investable universe.
Longer-term performance varies meaningfully by share class and fee level. Although NBI launched a cheaper share class for fee-based advisors in 2021, most assets remain in the more expensive commission-based investor share class, which has lagged category peers on a net-of-fees basis. The degree of underperformance has been larger over the past year through July 2026, with the NBI Balanced Portfolio Investor series underperforming its global neutral balanced category average by 2.3 percentage points versus an annualized 0.8 percentage points over the trailing five years. NBI has responded by reducing active equity exposure and adding passive equity to reduce tracking error in what it views as a challenging market for active management, as well as making several subadvisor changes.
NBI Balanced Portfolio: Performance Highlights
High fees have weighed on net-of-fees results for most investors.
The strategy initially offered only a commission-based Investor share class at its 2017 launch, adding a fee-based share class in 2021. As of July 2026, over 99% of assets were in the investor share class, which has a management expense ratio 70 basis points higher than the fee-based series and ranks as more expensive than 81% of global neutral balanced category peers. That fee differential is relevant because the investor share class of the NBI Balanced Portfolio has underperformed its category average by roughly that higher cost premium. As of July 2026, the NBI Balanced Portfolio Investor series returned an annualized 6.0% over the trailing five years, underperforming its category average by an annualized 0.8 percentage points.
Recent performance has been weaker. The Investor series returned 10.0% over the trailing one year through July 2026, versus 12.3% for the category average. The shortfall reflected active manager underperformance, partly owing to lighter exposure to momentum-led segments such as gold within Canadian equities and technology within global equities. NBI added passive sleeves in response to the tougher active management environment and made several subadvisor changes.
While active manager performance may improve with these changes, higher fees present a longer-term persistent drag on net-of-fees returns. Investors with access to the cheaper fee-based share class should consider whether its lower fee improves the strategy’s fit.
