ASEC vs CLOA

ASECCAmerican Century Securitized Credit ETF

CLOAAiShares AAA CLO Active ETF

In short

ASEC Most of its peer group buys one thing: AAA CLOs. ASEC casts wider, actively picking investment-grade securitized debt tied to aircraft leases, cell towers and consumer loans, at a fee sitting right at the category median.

CLOA BlackRock's play in AAA CLOs: active credit picking measured against J.P. Morgan's CLOIE AAA index, 0.20% a year, spread over roughly 400 positions. A billion-dollar-plus book built since its 2023 launch.

Stated mandate

ASEC The fund is actively managed to seek high current income and total return through high-quality, lower-duration U.S. securitized debt, including underrepresented asset-backed securities and other securitized subsectors.

CLOA The fund seeks exposure to U.S. dollar-denominated AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations, using active credit selection to pursue income and capital preservation with potentially low volatility.

Why people hold it

• ASEC Reaches past the CLO aisle into esoteric asset-backed paper: aircraft leases, equipment leases, consumer loans, cell towers, digital infrastructure.americancentury.com
• The mandate is written down: at least 80% of net assets in securitized credit, with a focus on investment-grade U.S. issues and lower duration.yahoo.comamericancentury.com
• At 0.29%, the fee lands exactly at the median for its securitized-credit peers, and income is paid quarterly across roughly 100 holdings.
• Human judgment, not an index: American Century's team picks the collateral, which is the point in a corner of the bond market where deals differ a lot.americancentury.com

• CLOA Charges 0.20% a year, below the 0.25% typical for CLO funds and level with what most of the category's biggest names (JAAA, FAAA, ACLO) charge.
• Roughly 400 separate CLO positions, one of the deepest books in its peer group, so no single deal carries the fund.
• Actively run: the team selects deals and CLO managers instead of buying whatever a benchmark holds. The CLOIE AAA index is the yardstick, not the rulebook.
• Income arrives monthly, and it sits among the easier funds in its cohort to get in and out of.

Worth knowing

• ASEC Cheaper AAA CLO options exist (PAAA at 0.19%, JAAA and CLOA at 0.20%). You pay up here for a broader, actively chosen securitized mix.
• Launched in 2026, so the track record is short, and an active fund has no index to measure it against.
• It is a small, thinly traded fund, where bid/ask spreads tend to run wider than in the category's giants.

• CLOA Active means manager-dependent. There is no index to fall back on, so outcomes hinge on which deals the desk picks.
• The mandate pursues income and capital preservation with potentially low volatility. That is the aim, not a floor; CLO prices still move.
• Trading since January 2023, so its record is short next to long-running bond funds and covers a narrow slice of credit history.

Full ASEC profile⁠

Full CLOA profile⁠