EUSB vs IUSB

EUSBAiShares ESG Advanced Universal USD Bond ETF

IUSBAiShares Core Universal USD Bond ETF

In short

EUSB A total-bond-market build with a conscience clause: thousands of taxable dollar bonds, screened for ESG ratings and stripped of fossil fuel issuers, at a fee well under the typical broad bond ETF.

IUSB Most core bond funds stop at investment grade. IUSB keeps going, folding high-yield USD debt into the same wrapper across roughly 18,000 bonds, for 0.06% a year.

Stated mandate

EUSB The Fund seeks to track the Bloomberg MSCI US Universal Choice ESG Screened Index, an index of U.S. dollar-denominated taxable bonds with favorable ESG ratings and extensive screens, including fossil-fuel exclusions.

IUSB The Fund seeks to track an index of U.S.-dollar-denominated bonds spanning investment-grade and high-yield sectors.

Why people hold it

• EUSB Charges 0.12% a year, well below the median fee in its broad-bond group and cheap for a rules-screened portfolio.
• The screens are the product: favorable ESG ratings plus extensive exclusions, fossil fuels included, written into the index rather than left to a manager's mood.ishares.com
• Spreads exposure across several thousand US dollar taxable bonds and pays monthly, so the income cadence is steady.
• Delivers the mandate it advertises, one of the tighter ESG implementations among broad bond funds we grade.

• IUSB 0.06% a year, a fraction of what the typical broad bond fund in its category charges, and iShares has run it since 2014.
• Roughly 18,000 bonds spanning investment-grade and high-yield sectors, so one ticker covers ground a plain Agg tracker leaves on the table.ishares.com
• Tracks its index closely, trades heavily, and sits on a multi-billion-dollar asset base. Income is paid monthly.
• Among the strongest implementations in a crowded field of nearly 200 core bond funds.

Worth knowing

• EUSB Screening changes the mix. Cutting fossil fuel issuers means the portfolio's sector map and results can diverge from a plain total-bond index.
• Cheap, not cheapest: unscreened aggregate peers like BND, SPAB and SCHZ run 0.03%.
• Smaller and less actively traded than the core bond giants, which can show up as wider bid-ask spreads on larger orders.

• IUSB That high-yield sleeve is the trade-off: more credit risk than an investment-grade-only fund, and more movement when spreads widen.
• BND, SPAB and SCHZ charge 0.03%, half IUSB's fee, but they stay inside investment grade.
• Payouts land monthly, but the amount floats with the coupons underneath. Nothing about the income stream is fixed.

Full EUSB profile⁠

Full IUSB profile⁠