HBRD vs PFF

HBRDBInvesco U.S. Hybrid Bond ETF

PFFAiShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

In short

HBRD Most preferred and hybrid funds are, underneath, a bet on banks. HBRD's index throws the banks out and tracks dollar hybrid bonds from everybody else, for 0.40% a year.

PFF Preferred stock is a clumsy market to shop one issue at a time. PFF, running since 2007, bundles roughly 500 US dollar preferreds and hybrids into a single heavily traded ticker and pays out monthly.

Stated mandate

HBRD The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the investment results of the ICE USD Developed Markets Corporate Ex-Banks Hybrid Bond 4.65% Constrained Index.

PFF The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated preferred and hybrid securities, providing exposure to preferred stock and subordinated debt with an income-oriented mandate.

Why people hold it

• HBRD The index screens banks out entirely, tracking USD hybrid bonds from other developed-market corporates. That is a rare filter in the preferred and hybrid category.invesco.com
• At 0.40%, the fee sits below the median for preferred and hybrid ETFs and undercuts several larger, older names in the group.
• Roughly 180 bonds, with the index constrained at 4.65% per issuer, so no single borrower dominates the portfolio.
• Plain plumbing: a passive index tracker in a standard 1940 Act ETF wrapper from Invesco, paying income quarterly.

• PFF One ticker buys roughly 500 US dollar preferreds and hybrids tracking the ICE Exchange-Listed Preferred & Hybrid Securities Index, a corner most investors can't assemble issue by issue.
• Distributions land monthly rather than quarterly, a steadier rhythm for anyone spending the income.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.
• Live since 2007, through the financial crisis and several rate cycles, with the same income-oriented mandate from a large index shop.

Worth knowing

• HBRD It launched in 2026, so there is no long record yet of how closely it tracks its index or how it behaves through a credit selloff.
• Still a small fund that trades thinly, which typically means wider bid-ask spreads than the category's household names.
• Income lands quarterly, not monthly, which matters if you plan cash flow around payout dates.

• PFF 0.45% a year is the going rate in this niche (the peer median), but it's many times what broad stock index trackers like VT charge.
• Preferreds and subordinated debt are hybrids: they rank below an issuer's senior bonds, so this trades on credit and rate conditions more than on earnings growth.
• The mandate is US dollar issuers only, so there's no international preferred exposure here.

Full HBRD profile⁠

Full PFF profile⁠