State Street, the third largest ETF provider, has announced several changes to seven of its SPDR ETFs, many focused on lowering costs, to meet customer demand.
The firm is slashing fees on two bond ETFs: the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Mortgage Backed Bond ETF (MBG) and SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Issuer Scored Corporate Bond ETF (CBND). State Street cut the expense ratio of MBG by 70%, from 20 basis points to 6, effective May 30, and it will reduce fees for CBND almost 63%, from 16 basis points to 10, effective July 31.
In addition to slashing its expense ratio, State Street is changing the index underlying CBND, from the Bloomberg Barclays Issuer Scored Corporate Index to the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate Bond Index, and, accordingly, removing "Issuer Scored" from its name. CBND will now be known as the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate Bond Index.
Using a different strategy to enhance investor demand, State Street is splitting the shares of five equity ETFs, which will apply to shareholders of record as of the June 8 market close and payable after the June 12 market close.
