BNY Mellon Debuts ESG Bond Fund

BNY Mellon’s latest ETF is an actively managed bond fund that aims to hold debt from environmentally friendly companies. 

The BNY Mellon Responsible Horizons Corporate Bond ETF (RHCB) debuted on the NYSE Arca Tuesday with a 0.35% expense ratio. 

The actively managed fund aims to invest at least 80% of its assets in investment-grade corporate bonds from companies deemed to have good ESG characteristics based on the criteria of BNY Mellon’s subsidiary Insight North America. 

The fund has no mandate to maintain an average maturity or duration. 

RHCB is BNY Mellon’s 14th ETF, and follows the launch of three ESG equity funds late last year. 

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There are already several active bond funds with an ESG screen on the U.S. market in the price range of RHCB, with VictoryShares the leader in the segment by asset under management.  

The VictoryShares ESG Core Plus Bond ETF (UBND) manages just over $210 million invested in the bonds issued by companies with favorable ESG scores, targeting intermediate-term maturity bonds across the investment-grade scale. The VictoryShares ESG Corporate Bond ETF (UCRD) is the investment-grade-focused sister to UBND and has $110 million in AUM. 

RHCB is 5 basis points cheaper than those two funds. 

Pimco, New York Life and AdvisorShares also run their own specific versions of actively managed ESG bond funds with a combined $242 million in assets. 

 
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