ASEC vs JAAA

ASECCAmerican Century Securitized Credit ETF

JAAAAJanus Henderson AAA CLO 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.

JAAA The AAA CLO trade in an ETF wrapper, running since 2020: floating-rate exposure to the senior slice of the corporate loan stack, aiming for capital preservation and income, at a fee below the group norm.

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.

JAAA The fund seeks capital preservation and current income through floating-rate exposure to high-quality AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations.

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

• JAAA Costs 0.20% a year, under the typical fee in its CLO peer group, and the newer AAA CLO rivals (CLOA, FAAA, ACLO) cluster at that same number rather than undercutting it.
• Very actively traded and a multi-billion-dollar fund, which is real market depth for an asset class that mostly lives in institutional hands.
• AAA CLO tranches pay floating coupons, so income resets as short-term rates move instead of being locked in. Distributions land monthly.
• Spread across roughly 400 positions at the top AAA rung of the loan capital stack, so no single deal carries the fund. One of the stronger builds in its peer group.

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.

• JAAA Actively managed with no declared index behind it, so which deals and tranches the fund owns comes down to the manager, not a published rulebook.
• Floating rate cuts both ways: when short-term rates fall, the income these deals throw off falls with them.
• AAA is the senior rung, but it is still corporate loan credit, not Treasuries. The fund's stated aim is capital preservation, not a guarantee of it.

Full ASEC profile⁠

Full JAAA profile⁠