New Ways To Access International Treasuries Via ETFs

Barclays Global Investors introduced two new international Treasury bond exchange traded funds (ETFs), to be listed on the Nasdaq exchange. The indexes cover 19 countries and expense ratios are set at 0.35%.

Barclays’ new bond ETFs that cover international treasuries are competing against SPDR Barclays Captial International Treasury Bond ETF (BWX), which has around $906 million in assets. There are 18 countries covered in this older index, and the expense ratio is 0.50%.

The new ETFs are representing 19 countries, which are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The new funds are based on indexes tracking Treasury bonds that are issued in local currencies by developed markets other than the United States.

These funds are another way for investors to get cost-effective international fixed-income access.

Heather Bell for Index Universe reports that the new ETFs are:

• iShares S&P/Citigroup International Treasury Bond Fund (IGOV)
• iShares S&P/Citigroup 1-3 Year International Treasury Bond Fund (ISHG)

Both ETFs are designed to track Treasury bonds that are issued in local currencies by developed markets other than the U.S., although ISHG is limited to bonds with maturities between one and three years.

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