Fixed IncomeMay 29 2018

Invesco launches floating rate note ETFs

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Invesco launches floating rate note ETFs

Invesco has created a range of floating rate note exchange-traded products.

The investment group, which has launched three floating rate note ETFs, said there was growing demand from investors who were concerned about rising interest rates.

Invesco said that in 2017 some 20 per cent of inflows into European fixed income ETFs went into floating rate note products but this grew to 55 per cent in the first quarter of 2018.

Paul Syms, head of fixed income product management at Invesco, said: "We expect these ETFs to appeal to investors who either think bond yields are going to rise or want to take a defensive stance of interest rate."

"We continue to build out our range of low-cost passive fixed income ETFs following the launch of our broad investment grade and hard currency emerging market ETFs towards the end of last year."

Instead of paying a fixed coupon, floating rate notes pay a coupon linked to benchmark rate.

The Invesco USD Floating Rate Note UCITS ETF, for example, aims to match the performance of the Bloomberg Barclays US Corporate FRN 500 MM Liquid Bond Index.

Charges on the three new products are between 0.1 per cent and 0.12 per cent.

Ben Yearsley, director at Shore Financial Planning, said: "There is increasing demand for this asset class but I would not buy it in a passive format as it is niche and not a huge investment universe. Active, in this instance, is probably better."