AXA Investment Managers has launched its first fixed income ETF, an active strategy tracking euro corporate bonds linked to the Paris-Aligned Benchmark (PAB).
The AXA IM Euro Credit PAB UCITS ETF (AIPE) is listed on the Deutsche Boerse with a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.20%.
The ETF will seek to provide exposure to the euro credit investment grade universe and aims to outperform the ICE Bank of America Euro Corporate Paris Aligned (Absolute Emissions) index over the long-term, net of fees.
The ETF will be constructed using three pillars, credit selection, credit risk monitoring via AXA IM’s fixed income research teams and an absolute carbon emissions target of the portfolio holdings below or equal to the PAB.
Nicolas-Louis Guille-Biel, global head of ETFs and product strategy at AXA IM, said: “The launch of this new ETF is part of our strategy to bring truly innovative and climate-conscious investment products to the ETF market and enable investors to shift their core euro corporate bonds towards a responsible strategy.”
Olivier Paquier (pictured), global head of ETF sales at AXA IM, added: “ETFs are important building blocks to support the climate transition, especially for bond portfolios.
“This new addition will help investors enhance their portfolios by addressing euro-denominated corporate bonds needs while additionally adhering to the carbon reduction goals of the Paris Agreement. As such, this is the very first ETF of its kind in the UCITS ETF industry.”
The ETF is labelled Article 8 under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
It takes the French assets manager’s ETF range to four, having entered the market last September with the launch of the AXA IM ACT Biodiversity Equity UCITS ETF (ABIU) and the AXA IM ACT Climate Equity UCITS ETF (ACLT).
In November, the firm launched its first rule-based passive ETF, the AXA IM Nasdaq 100 UCITS ETF (ANAU), Europe’s cheapest Nasdaq 100 ETF.
In April, Paquier told ETF Stream it would be looking to enter the fixed income market by the end of the year.
“We live in a fixed income era,” Paquier said. “The fact that the innovation always comes through ETFs is a big key driver,” he said. “It is active, it is thematic, and now it is fixed income ETFs driving the market.”
