SUSC vs USIG

SUSCAiShares ESG Aware USD Corporate Bond ETF

USIGAiShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

In short

SUSC Corporate bond beta with a conscience filter: roughly 4,000 investment-grade USD bonds, screened on business involvement and tilted toward better ESG profiles, in one ticker. Trading since 2017, paying monthly.

USIG Most investment-grade corporate bond funds hand you one slice of the maturity curve. USIG takes the whole thing, thousands of US dollar corporate bonds from short-dated to long, for four basis points a year.

Stated mandate

SUSC The fund seeks to track an index of investment-grade USD corporate bonds with positive environmental, social, and governance characteristics in aggregate.

USIG The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds.

Why people hold it

• SUSC Breadth, not a slice. About 4,000 investment-grade USD corporate bonds, so the screen runs across the whole market rather than a narrow corner of it.
• At 0.18%, it sits just under the typical fee in its investment-grade corporate peer group, which is unusual for a screened product.
• The label and the portfolio match: one named benchmark, the Bloomberg MSCI US Corporate ESG Focus Index, and a mandate you can hold the fund to.ishares.com
• Income arrives monthly, from a fund with a track record stretching back to its 2017 launch.

• USIG Costs 0.04% a year, against a category median near 0.19%. CORP, which tracks the same ICE BofA US Corporate Index, charges 0.41%.
• One ticker, the full USD investment-grade corporate curve: thousands of bonds, short to long. Slice funds like IGSB (1-5 year) and IGIB (5-10 year) each cover one segment.ishares.com
• Running since 2007, it has tracked its index with very little drift and is one of the more actively traded funds in its category.
• Interest lands monthly, and this is a multi-billion-dollar fund that ranks among the strongest implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• SUSC The screen carries a price tag. Plain broad investment-grade corporate funds like USIG and VCIT charge a fraction of 0.18% for unscreened exposure.
• ESG Aware is a tilt, not a purge. The index targets better ESG characteristics in aggregate alongside business involvement screens, so familiar large issuers still appear.ishares.com
• Trading is moderate rather than heavy, so spreads deserve a look on larger orders.

• USIG Owning the whole curve means long-dated bonds ride along, so the price swings more when rates move than a short-maturity slice such as IGSB.
• This is corporate credit, not Treasuries. Investment grade at purchase, but prices can fall when spreads widen or an issuer is downgraded.ishares.com
• VCIT edges it on fee at 0.03%, though that fund stays in intermediate maturities rather than the full curve.

Full SUSC profile⁠

Full USIG profile⁠