Daily ETF Watch: Van Eck Adding Muni Funds

The latest filing from Van Eck’s ETF arm lays out the firm’s plans for three more municipal bond ETFs. The proposed funds will cover different maturity ranges and are slated to list on the BATS Exchange.

The funds and their tickers are as follows:

• Market Vectors 6-8 Year Municipal Index ETF (ITMS)
• Market Vectors 8-12 Year Municipal Index ETF (ITMI)
• Market Vectors 12-17 Year Municipal Index ETF (ITML)

Each one targets USD-denominated, tax-exempt municipal bonds falling into a specific final maturity range, as indicated in their names. However, Van Eck already has a family of seven muni ETFs, three of which target short-, intermediate- and long-term issues, respectively.

The existing ETFs and their targeted maturity ranges are as follows:

• Market Vectors Short Municipal Index ETF (SMB | B-94), 1-6 years
• Market Vectors Intermediate Municipal Index ETF (ITM | B-94), 6-17 years
• Market Vectors Long Municipal Index ETF (MLN | C-94), at least 17 years

The three proposed ETFs appear to divide the intermediate-term range into three smaller ranges for more specific coverage, which makes sense—and not just because all three tickers build off of “ITM.”

ITM is by far the largest of the three existing funds, with $1.3 billion in assets under management—almost five times as much as the second-largest fund in the trio, MLN. It seems reasonable that with that level of interest in the fund, investors might want exposure to even more targeted maturity ranges.

The filing did not include expense ratios.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].