BKMI vs ITM

BKMIBBNY Mellon Municipal Intermediate ETF

ITMAVanEck Intermediate Muni ETF

In short

BKMI A muni strategy with roots in 1987, now in ETF form: roughly 500 federally tax-exempt bonds with duration parked between three and eight years. The intermediate lane, priced a step above the muni median.

ITM Most big muni ETFs buy the whole curve. ITM, running since 2007, sticks to the middle: a passive, AMT-free national index of roughly 1,400 bonds, paid out monthly, for 0.18% a year.

Stated mandate

BKMI The ETF seeks to maximize current income exempt from federal income tax while preserving capital. It normally invests at least 80% of its assets in federally tax-exempt municipal bonds, with portfolio effective duration generally between three and eight years.

ITM The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the ICE Intermediate AMT-Free Broad National Municipal Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• BKMI The mandate is specific: at least 80% in federally tax-exempt munis, effective duration generally three to eight years. No long-bond surprises hiding inside.
• Income is built to come out exempt from federal income tax, with preserving capital named right alongside it in the objective.
• Roughly 500 bonds inside a multi-billion-dollar portfolio, so no single issuer carries the fund.
• The strategy's track record starts in 1987, which is a lot of rate cycles before muni ETFs were even a thing.

• ITM 0.18% a year against a 0.30% median for muni ETFs in its group. Modest for a fund that screens the maturity range instead of buying the entire market.
• A straight index tracker of the ICE Intermediate AMT-Free Broad National Municipal Index, and it stays unusually close to that benchmark for its cohort.vaneck.com
• Mid-curve by design: shorter maturities than long muni funds mean less price movement per shift in rates, with more coupon than the ultra-short end.vaneck.com
• Roughly 1,400 bonds, income paid monthly, and a 2007 launch that puts several full rate cycles behind it.

Worth knowing

• BKMI At 0.35% a year it prices above the muni cohort median of 0.30%, and well above index heavyweights VTEB and SCMB at 0.03%.
• Payouts have arrived on an irregular schedule rather than the fixed monthly rhythm many muni funds keep.
• Trading is moderate rather than heavy, so the spread can be a bigger slice of a round trip than with the category's most-traded muni funds.

• ITM Broad national trackers like VTEB, SCMB and MUB run at a few basis points. ITM's fee buys the intermediate screen, not the lowest sticker in the aisle.
• Intermediate maturities soften rate moves rather than cancel them, and municipal issuers carry credit risk.
• National in scope and AMT-free, so there is no single-state tax focus of the kind state-targeted peers like NYF are built around.

Full BKMI profile⁠

Full ITM profile⁠