IQHI vs SCYB

IQHICNYLI MacKay High Income ETF

SCYBASchwab High Yield Bond ETF

In short

IQHI Born as an ESG high yield fund, IQHI dropped the screen in 2025 and now chases one thing: current income. MacKay Shields' credit team roams junk bonds, loans and convertibles, and the fund pays monthly.

SCYB Three basis points for the broad US high-yield corporate market. Schwab undercuts a category where the typical fund charges more than ten times as much, spreading the bet across roughly 1,800 bonds and paying monthly.

Stated mandate

IQHI The Fund seeks to maximize current income.

SCYB The fund follows a rules-based strategy intended to track the high-yield bond market, primarily through bonds in the Bloomberg Barclays US Corporate High Yield Total Return Index and similar derivatives.

Why people hold it

• IQHI Actively run by MacKay Shields, with a mandate reaching past plain bonds into loans, convertibles, CLOs and asset-backed paper, plus derivatives to hedge or manage duration.sec.gov
• The ESG overlay came off in February 2025, when the fund was renamed from NYLI MacKay ESG High Income ETF. The mandate now reads simply: maximize current income.sec.gov
• Pays monthly, and spreads credit risk across roughly 400 positions rather than a concentrated handful.

• SCYB 0.03% a year against a category median of 0.40%. Even the cheap rivals sit above it: SPHY at 0.05%, USHY at 0.08%.
• Tracks the same Bloomberg US Corporate High Yield index as BKHY, which charges 0.22%. Same map, cheaper toll.
• Roughly 1,800 bonds, so no single issuer's blowup drives the outcome. Rules-based and passive, and it has hugged its index closely.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively and pays monthly, which matters in a corner of the market where getting out cheaply is half the job.

Worth knowing

• IQHI Costs 0.41% net of a fee waiver (0.58% gross), near the category median, but index rivals run far leaner: SCYB at 0.03%, SPHY at 0.05%, USHY at 0.08%.
• Thinly traded next to the category's heavyweights, so spreads can run wider and large orders may move the price.
• Below-investment-grade debt without limitation means real default and credit risk, and loans and CLOs add layers most index high yield funds skip.sec.gov

• SCYB High yield means below-investment-grade credit. These bonds behave more like stocks than Treasuries when the economy sours, and the extra income is the payment for that risk.
• Launched in 2023, so it has a shorter record than rivals that have traded through more credit cycles.
• The strategy can hold derivatives alongside the bonds themselves to track the index, one layer beyond plain bond ownership.

Full IQHI profile⁠

Full SCYB profile⁠