GIGB vs PICB

GIGBAGoldman Sachs Access Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

PICBDInvesco 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.

PICB The odd one out in a very US-heavy aisle. PICB tracks an S&P index of investment grade corporate bonds from outside the United States, roughly 600 of them, and has been doing it since 2010. Broad overseas credit in one ticket, at a premium price.

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.

PICB The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the S&P International Corporate Bond Index before fees and expenses.

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.

• PICB A real niche: the cohort's highest-rated names (VCIT, USIG, SPIB) all hold US corporate paper. PICB's mandate is international corporate credit instead.
• Spread wide by design: about 600 bonds, tracked to an index rather than hand-picked, so no single issuer or manager call runs the show.
• Pays monthly, and has been on the tape since 2010, a long record for a corner of the market with few US-listed options.

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.

• PICB Costs 0.50% a year against a 0.19% median for investment grade corporate bond ETFs. That gap is the main reason it sits in the lower tier of its peer group.
• Moderately traded rather than one of the category's heavyweights, so the cost of getting in and out is worth checking before you trade.
• An international mandate tracks overseas credit markets, not the domestic ones its peers follow. Different job, different behavior.

Full GIGB profile⁠

Full PICB profile⁠