Northern Trust's new state muni ETFs match the fee, not a published duration
Northern Trust listed its California and New York intermediate tax-exempt bond ETFs, TXCA and TXNY, on Nasdaq on September 23, 2026, at fees of 0.06% and 0.09%.
Key takeaways
Northern Trust began trading two municipal-bond funds on Nasdaq on Wednesday, September 23. The Northern Trust California Intermediate Tax-Exempt Bond ETF TXCA and the Northern Trust New York Intermediate Tax-Exempt Bond ETF TXNY each track an index of investment-grade bonds from that state, rather than picking bonds one by one.
Interest on the bonds is exempt from federal income tax and from income tax in California or New York. That state break is why a resident would look here.
The annual fee is 0.06% for the California fund and 0.09% for the New York fund. Those are the total fees in the prospectus filed on Friday, August 21.
The funds already there
TXCA matches Vanguard's California municipal-bond fund, VTEC, at 0.06%, and undercuts the iShares California fund, CMF, by 0.02 percentage points. That is $2 a year on a $10,000 investment. TXNY matches the iShares New York fund, NYF, and Vanguard's New York fund, MUNY, at 0.09%.
No issuer shows a waiver.
On size, the gap runs the other way, and it is wide.
The launch extends a tax-exempt lineup Northern Trust already runs. Three national funds introduced in 2025 held more than $370 million as of Monday, August 31, and the firm had $27 billion in ETF assets as of Tuesday, June 30, the company said in its launch release. The same release says a municipal team with more than 30 years managing state-specific portfolios runs the new funds.
Dave Abner, Northern Trust Asset Management's global head of ETFs and funds, said investors are "increasingly seeking precise, tax-aware fixed income solutions that align with where they live and pay taxes."
What intermediate means here
The launch release calls the new funds intermediate-duration exposure, with interest-rate risk protection. The rule in the prospectus is a rule for the index.
A bond needs at least one day left, and less than 20 years, until final maturity, to be in the index. The funds hold a sample of it. They do not have to own every bond in the index.
The prospectus gives the weighted average years to maturity of each index as of Friday, July 31: about 8.95 years for California and about 9.40 years for New York. It does not give a duration for either fund. Northern Trust's fund data as of Friday, October 2 does not either.
CMF does not call itself intermediate. As of Friday, October 2, its weighted average maturity was 8.53 years, and its effective duration, how much the price tends to move when rates change, was 7.04 years. The California index, at about 8.95 years, is not shorter than that maturity.
NYF reported a weighted average maturity of 10.55 years and an effective duration of 7.29 years on the same day. The New York index, at about 9.40 years, is shorter on maturity. There is no Northern Trust duration to set beside either fund.
The largest holding in TXCA that day was a variable-rate Bay Area Toll Authority toll-bridge bond, 2.68% of the fund, with a stated maturity of April 1, 2059.
The 20-year cap is an index rule. It is not a duration either new fund has published.
ETFs in this story
Frequently asked questions
What do the new California and New York funds charge?
The annual fee is 0.06% for the California fund and 0.09% for the New York fund.
Which existing ETFs do those fees match?
The California fund matches Vanguard's California fund at 0.06%, and the New York fund matches the iShares and Vanguard New York funds at 0.09%.
Did Northern Trust publish a duration for either fund?
The prospectus and Northern Trust's October 2 fund data do not give a duration for either fund.
What does intermediate mean in the prospectus?
A bond needs at least one day left, and less than 20 years, until final maturity to be in the index.
