Vanguard Launches 3 New Government Bond ETFs

Investors looking to add U.S. government bonds to their portfolios using the exchange-traded fund wrapper now have three new ways to do so from Vanguard: the Vanguard Government Securities Active ETF (VGVT), the Vanguard Total Treasury ETF (VTG) and the Vanguard Total Inflation-Protected Securities ETF (VTP), all of which launched Wednesday.

The debuts are part of a broader acceleration in Vanguard’s active fixed-income product development, Rebecca Venter, senior fixed-income product manager at the firm, told etf.com. Vanguard has introduced nine new bond ETFs this year, bringing its total bond ETF lineup to 36, including eight active strategies.

Together, these three new ETFs “offer investors a toolkit for managing risk, earning attractive income and preserving capital through uncertain environments,” Venter said. 

VGVT: Vanguard Government Securities Active ETF 

With a 0.1% expense ratio, the actively managed VGVT seeks to outperform the broad Treasury market while maintaining the diversification benefits that Treasurys offer, per Vanguard’s press release. While other active government ETFs with an intermediate duration tend to focus either on mortgage-backed securities (MBS) or Treasurys, VGVT will allocate dynamically across all government bonds.

The fund is designed to bring the benefits of Vanguard’s active fixed-income capabilities to a broader investor base through the ETF structure and will have the flexibility to invest across the U.S. government and agency bond spectrum, as well as select high-quality asset-backed securities (ABS) and non-agency MBS, Venter said.

“VGVT’s active approach can take advantage of volatility as it creates dispersion across issuers, sectors and yield curves that is ripe for active management,” she added. “VGVT will maintain the high-quality approach investors desire in uncertain markets while deploying a range of active strategies to capitalize on dispersion and maximize returns.” 

VTG & VTP: Two New Index ETFs 

VTG tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Total Return Index and charges an expense ratio of 0.03%, while VTP  tracks the ICE U.S. Treasury Inflation Linked Bond Index and carries an expense ratio of 0.05%.

Both funds, in addition to VGVT, can help investors seek the relative safety and liquidity of U.S. government securities during times of market stress or geopolitical uncertainty, such as tariff disputes, Venter said.

“VTG provides broad exposure to Treasurys, which are traditionally viewed as safe-haven assets during risk-off periods,” she added. “VTP adds inflation protection, which can be especially valuable when market volatility is driven by supply chain disruptions or policy shifts that may stoke inflation.”