DWS has reduced the fees charged on five of its Xtrackers-branded UCITS ETFs providing core fixed income exposures.
DWS has lowered the fees charged on five of its core fixed income ETFs.
One fund benefitting from cheaper fees is the €2.8 billon Xtrackers II Eurozone Government Bond UCITS ETF (XGLE GR) which has lowered its expense ratio from 0.15% to 0.09%.
The fund provides exposure to euro-denominated bonds issued by eurozone governments by tracking the iBoxx € Sovereign Eurozone Index. The fee cut will save current investors in the ETF around $1.7 million annually.
Fee cuts have also been extended to two US Treasury ETFs, the $660m Xtrackers II US Treasuries UCITS ETF (XUTE GR) and the $120m Xtrackers II US Treasuries 1-3 UCITS ETF (D5BE GR), which have each seen their expense ratios trimmed from 0.12% to 0.07%.
The funds are also linked to iBoxx indices. The iBoxx $ Treasuries Index targets bonds with maturities greater than 18 months, while the iBoxx $ Treasuries 1-3 Year Index focuses on bonds with one to three years remaining till maturity.
Finally, DWS has also reduced the cost of accessing high yield exposures. Both the €190m Xtrackers II EUR High Yield Corporate Bond UCITS ETF (XHYA GR) and the $60m Xtrackers USD High Yield Corporate Bond UCITS ETF (XUHY GR) have had their expense ratios from cut from 0.35% to 0.20%.
The EUR high yield fund tracks the Markit iBoxx EUR Liquid High Yield Index which includes sub-investment grade bonds denominated in euros and issued by corporate entities globally. To be eligible for inclusion, a bond must have a remaining maturity between two and ten years. Issuer and country caps of 3% and 20% are enforced.
Meanwhile, the USD high yield ETF is linked to the Bloomberg Barclays US High Yield Very Liquid Index. This index covers US dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds from financial, utility, and industrial issuers globally.
John Ferry, a press representative for DWS, quoted a spokesman at the company as saying, “As assets under management in Xtrackers ETFs continues to increase we regularly review our product offering to see where we can reduce fees.”