GIGB vs IBND

GIGBAGoldman Sachs Access Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

IBNDDSPDR Bloomberg International Corporate Bond ETF

In short

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.

IBND Nearly every investment-grade corporate bond ETF buys dollar debt. IBND buys the rest of the world: roughly 900 corporate bonds issued outside the US, in euros, yen and sterling, with the currency exposure left in.

Stated mandate

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.

IBND The fund seeks investment results corresponding generally to the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD > $1B: Corporate Bond Index, providing broad exposure to global investment-grade, fixed-rate corporate bonds outside the United States.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• IBND A passport out of dollar credit: broad investment-grade corporate exposure from issuers outside the US, roughly 900 bonds, in one ticker.ssga.com
• Different central banks, different rate cycles, different currencies from a US bond sleeve. That is the whole reason this thing exists.ssga.com
• Listed since 2010, pays income monthly, and trades actively enough for everyday retail orders.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• IBND 0.50% a year is well above the roughly 0.19% typical for investment-grade corporate funds, and dollar-credit peers like VCIT and SPIB charge 0.03% to 0.04%.
• Currency is the loud part. The bonds are non-dollar, so exchange rate moves can swamp the coupons in either direction when results are converted back to dollars.ssga.com
• Against the wider investment-grade corporate group it lands in the back quarter, mostly on fee and price-swing measures rather than how it tracks its index.

Full GIGB profile⁠

Full IBND profile⁠