GIGB vs UCRD

GIGBAGoldman Sachs Access Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

UCRDCVictoryShares 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.

UCRD Most corporate bond ETFs just track the index. UCRD hands roughly 400 investment-grade corporates to Victory's taxable fixed income team, which runs its own credit research instead of leaning on ratings alone. Income is paid monthly.

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.

UCRD The Fund seeks maximum current income while limiting undue risk to principal.

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.

• UCRD Actively managed by Victory's taxable fixed income team, with independent in-house credit work behind the names it owns rather than a rules-based index screen.vcm.com
• Spreads the risk across about 400 investment-grade corporate bonds, so no single issuer drives the fund, and it distributes monthly.
• What it holds lines up tightly with what its prospectus says: current income from investment-grade corporate credit, with limits on risk to principal.vcm.com

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.

• UCRD At 0.47% a year it runs well above the category median, and index staples like VCIT, USIG and SPIB charge a small fraction of that. The active credit work is what the fee buys.
• Thinly traded compared with the category's giants, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads and more price impact on bigger orders.
• A 2021 launch in the smaller size tier of its peer group, so the track record is shorter than the decades-old index funds it sits beside.

Full GIGB profile⁠

Full UCRD profile⁠