The team at a $199-billion-AUM (as of June 30), Chicagoland asset manager is rolling out a pair of active fixed income ETFs. The dual launch expands the firm's taxable fixed income ETF lineup to 15 funds in total.

Ryan O. Issakainen First Trust Portfolios L.P. Senior Vice President, ETF Strategist

Last week, Ryan Issakainen, senior vice president and ETF strategist at First Trust Advisors L.P. [profile], and William Housey, managing director of fixed income and senior PM, unveiled the launch of the First Trust Intermediate Duration Investment Grade Corporate ETF (FIIG on the NYSE Arca) and the First Trust Intermediate Government Opportunities ETF (MGOV). The two funds are series of First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV.

The inception date for MGOV and FIIG was August 2. FIIG comes with an expense ratio of 65 basis points, and MGOV comes with an expense ratio of 68 bps. As of yesterday, MGOV had grown to $15.059 million in AUM and FIIG had grown to $10.072 million.

First Trust Advisors serves as investment advisor to both FIIG and MGOV, and First Trust Portfolios L.P. (FTP) serves as the new funds' distributor.

For MGOV, the PM team includes: Owen Aronson, vice president and portfolio manager; Jeremiah Charles, senior vice president and senior PM; and James Snyder, SVP and senior PM. Snyder and Charles co-head the First Trust Government & Securitized Products Group.

FIIG's PM team includes: Sebastian Dassouli, VP and PM; Housey; Todd Larson, SVP and senior PM; Eric Maisel, SVP and PM; Jeffrey Scott, SVP and PM; Nathan Simons, VP and PM; and Scott Skowronski, SVP and PM.

"We are thrilled to expand First Trust's robust lineup of acitvely-managed fixed income ETFs," Issakainen states. "FIIG and MGOV provide investment professionals with fresh tools to access the deep expertise of skilled portfolio management teams with proven track records of success."

FIIG and MGOV's other service providers include: Bank of New York Mellon as administrator, custodian, fund accounting agent, and transfer agent; Chapman & Cutler LLP as counsel; and Deloitte & Touche LLP as independent accounting firm. 

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