BKAG vs TABD

BKAGABNY Mellon Core Bond ETF

TABDCTransamerica Bond Active ETF

In short

BKAG A core bond index fund that charges nothing. BKAG tracks the same Bloomberg US Aggregate benchmark the giants track, at a 0.00% expense ratio, and has been doing it since 2020.

TABD Transamerica's first move into ETFs: an actively run core bond portfolio steered by Aegon's fixed income desk, aiming for total return from income plus price gains, at 0.39% a year.

Stated mandate

BKAG The fund seeks to track the Bloomberg US Aggregate Total Return Index.

TABD The Fund seeks total return from current income and capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• BKAG A 0.00% expense ratio. The median fund in the core bond group charges 0.36%, and even the cheap giants (BND, SPAB, SCHZ) charge 0.03%.
• Tracks the Bloomberg US Aggregate Total Return Index tightly, one of the closest index-following records in its peer group.
• Broad by design: roughly 4,000 bonds in the portfolio, with distributions paid monthly rather than quarterly.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund from BNY Mellon, wrapped in a standard 1940 Act ETF structure with no exotic mechanics.

• TABD Active bond management for 0.39% a year, only a few basis points above the median fee in a cohort dominated by cheap index trackers.
• Run by Aegon Asset Management, Transamerica's affiliated bond shop, and launched December 2025 as one of the firm's first two active ETFs.prnewswire.comtransamerica.com
• Clear mandate: total return from current income and capital appreciation, principally through bonds and bond-like derivatives. No index to track.

Worth knowing

• BKAG Rate risk is the trade-off. This is full-market bond exposure, and bond prices move opposite interest rates. Volatility is the weakest part of its profile.
• Moderately traded, not one of the volume monsters in the category. Spreads and limit orders matter more here than with the largest core bond names.
• At zero, the fee edge over 0.03% rivals is real but small in dollar terms, so tracking and trading costs do more of the work.

• TABD Index heavyweights BND, SPAB and SCHZ charge 0.03%. Here you pay roughly ten times that for a manager's discretion.
• Launched in December 2025, so there is no long record to judge. Results ride on the subadviser's calls, not an index.
• Small and lightly traded next to the category's giants, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on the mega funds.

Full BKAG profile⁠

Full TABD profile⁠