Vanguard Cuts Fees On 4 Bond ETFs

Vanguard’s latest round of fee cuts targets its lineup of broad fixed income funds, including its flagship Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND). 

The fee cuts announced Friday morning are listed below: 

The firm estimates the cost cuts will save shareholders approximately $8.8 billion in its fiscal year 2021 compared with the fiscal year prior based on monthly average assets under management. 

The half-basis-point cut for BND brings its expense ratio level with that of the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG), which effectively provides the same type of government and investment-grade corporate debt exposure. 

AGG and BND are the largest fixed income ETFs on the markets, with $82.93 billion and $81.3 billion in assets, respectively. However, AGG is more often used as a trading tool, as indicated by its $1.08 billion in average daily volume compared with BND’s $635 million. 

Vanguard’s move is the latest in a long-running battle between major issuers to push fees down for vanilla ETFs in a bid to attract investor dollars at scale. 

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