Among the asset growth leaders is the Franklin Liberty Investment Grade Corporate ETF (FLCO). FLCO is not leveraged nor does it have a highly concentrated portfolio, and it carries a modest annual expense ratio of 0.35%.
FLCO is actively managed and the bulk of the fund’s portfolio owns U.S. corporate bonds with the top credit ratings. Being active permits the fund more freedom compared to index-linked bond ETFs. For example, FLCO’s portfolio allows for up to 15% of its assets to be invested in non-U.S. corporate debt. As such, FLCO has an 11% allocation to U.K. corporate debt and a 3.7% stake in Chinese corporate debt.
Summary
While the asset growth of these products has been impressive, none of the top-ten leaders in growth on a percentage basis are close to cracking the highly coveted $1 billion mark. In fact, the two closest funds, the Invesco RAFI Strategic Developed ex-US ETF (ISDX) and FLCO, have just $231.7 million and $235.4 million in assets, respectively.
In the end, gathering ETF assets at a rapid clip is tough work. And keeping those assets can be even tougher.
Ron DeLegge is founder and chief portfolio strategist at ETFguide, and is the author of “Habits Of The Investing Greats.”