CLOA vs RCLY

CLOAAiShares AAA CLO Active ETF

RCLYFReckoner BBB-B CLO Annual ETF

In short

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.

RCLY Most bond ETFs pay you monthly. RCLY is built the other way: exposure to BBB through B rated collateralized loan obligations with a stated mandate to make just one distribution a year.

Stated mandate

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.

RCLY The Fund seeks total return while targeting only one dividend or distribution payment each year.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• RCLY The mandate is unusual and explicit: seek total return while targeting a single dividend or distribution each year, so income lands as one annual event rather than twelve monthly ones.
• It goes down the CLO stack. The category's largest funds (JAAA, CLOA, PAAA, FAAA) concentrate on AAA tranches; this one targets BBB through B rated slices instead.
• Structurally simple: it is a wrapper on Reckoner's own BBB-B CLO ETF (RCLO), so one portfolio runs the credit exposure while this fund handles the annual payout schedule.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• RCLY Costs 0.55% a year, above the CLO ETF norm: the big AAA funds in the category charge about 0.20%, and the cohort median sits near a quarter point.
• Launched in February 2026, so the track record is short, and it has been a small, lightly traded fund, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads.
• BBB-B rated tranches sit below the AAA paper most CLO ETFs hold, so moves in credit stress can be larger. And by design, cash arrives once a year, not monthly.

Full CLOA profile⁠

Full RCLY profile⁠