Last week, John Hancock Investment Management LLC announced the availability of John Hancock Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF (JHMB). The exchange-traded fund (ETF) is sub-advised by Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, John Hancock Investment Management’s affiliated asset manager. It is the second actively managed fixed-income ETF launched by John Hancock Investment Management this year, following the launch of John Hancock Corporate Bond ETF (JHCB) in March 2021.
“We’re pleased to bring another ETF from the Manulife Investment Management fixed-income team to investors,” said Andrew G. Arnott, CEO, John Hancock Investment Management and head of wealth and asset management, Manulife Investment Management, United States and Europe. “The team is highly regarded for its bottom-up sector allocation and security selection process in making investment decisions, and we believe this fund is another strong example of their capabilities for those investors interested in accessing this strategy in an ETF wrapper.”
John Hancock Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF is actively managed and seeks a high level of current income while seeking to outperform the benchmark over a market cycle. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in mortgage-backed securities. The fund may invest in mortgage-related securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. governmental entities and privately issued mortgage-related securities. These may include residential mortgage-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities, and to-be-announced mortgage contracts and may be rated investment-grade or below.
The ETF is managed by David A. Bees, CFA, managing director and portfolio manager, Peter M. Farley, CFA, managing director and senior portfolio manager, and Jeffrey N. Given, CFA, and Howard C. Greene, CFA, senior managing directors and senior portfolio managers, Manulife Investment Management.
“According to SIFMA, the market for mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities is large and in demand, and represents over $12 trillion of the bond market today, which is larger than the investment-grade and high-yield corporate bond markets combined,” added Steven L. Deroian, co-head of retail product, John Hancock Investment Management. “We’re excited to bring this new ETF to market in a growing category for asset allocators and advisors.”
John Hancock Investment Management launched its first ETFs more than five years ago. With this announcement, the firm’s ETF offering has grown to 17 ETFs with nearly $5 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2021, including mortgage-back securities, corporate bonds, U.S. and international equity portfolios, and a range of sector-specific products.
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