CORP vs GIGB

CORPBPIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund

GIGBAGoldman Sachs Access Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

In short

CORP PIMCO is famous for active bond management. CORP is the opposite: since 2010 it has simply followed the ICE BofA US Corporate Index across roughly 1,400 investment grade corporate bonds, paying income monthly.

GIGB Most investment-grade corporate bond funds just buy the biggest borrowers. Goldman's index screens the market on liquidity and fundamentals first, then spreads the money across roughly 1,600 bonds for 0.08% a year.

Stated mandate

CORP The Fund seeks total return that closely follows the ICE BofA US Corporate Index before fees and expenses, normally investing at least 80% of assets in the index's component securities.

GIGB The Fund seeks to track the FTSE Goldman Sachs Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index, which measures U.S.-dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds meeting liquidity and fundamental screening criteria.

Why people hold it

• CORP Narrow mandate, honored: at least 80% of assets in components of the ICE BofA US Corporate Index, and it has tracked that benchmark closely.
• Whole-market credit exposure, roughly 1,400 bonds across the maturity curve, while highly ranked peers like IGSB and IGIB carve off a single maturity band.
• Trading since 2010, a billion-dollar-plus fund that distributes monthly inside a standard 1940 Act ETF wrapper.

• GIGB Costs 0.08% a year, well under the typical investment-grade corporate bond ETF's 0.19%.
• The index screens US dollar investment-grade corporates for liquidity and fundamentals rather than simply following who borrowed the most.gsam.com
• Tracks that index about as tightly as passive bond funds get, and holds roughly 1,600 bonds so no single issuer carries the load.
• Pays monthly, matching how corporate bond coupons tend to land in a portfolio.

Worth knowing

• CORP Price is the trade-off: 0.41% a year against a 0.19% cohort median, and USIG follows the same index for 0.04%.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume leader, so spreads can widen in choppy markets. Limit orders are the usual tool.
• Full maturity range means more interest-rate sensitivity than short-duration corporate peers such as IGSB.

• GIGB Cheap, but not the cheapest shelf: VCIT, USIG and SPIB run at 0.03% to 0.04%. You are paying a few basis points for the screening.
• Broad-maturity corporate credit moves on two levers, interest rates and credit spreads, so it swings more than short-dated bond funds.
• A mid-sized, moderately traded fund rather than a giant, so trading spreads can run wider than the largest names in the category.

Full CORP profile⁠

Full GIGB profile⁠