Vanguard’s Australian Government Bond Index ETF began trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on 30 April 2012.
Using the ticker code VGB, investors can now access Vanguard’s newest addition to its ETF line up, which can be accessed through a broker in the same way as individual shares.
ETFs continue to gather pace in Australia. The latest data from the ASX show total market capitalisation of ETFs in Australia is $5.4 billion (including ETCs).
Commenting on the new ETF listing, Robyn Laidlaw, Vanguard’s Head of Product Management and Development, said, “Fixed income is an important diversifier to a portfolio overweight in equities or cash.”
“Accessing individual bonds using the traditional over-the-counter method can be difficult for individual investors and can involve large investment outlays,” she said.
“At a cost of just 0.20 per cent per annum, this new ETF provides a very cost-effective way to incorporate a diversified portfolio of bonds which investors can trade just like shares.”
Vanguard also this month launched a new wholesale inflation-linked bond fund, the Vanguard® Australian Inflation-Linked Bond Index Fund, and announced a lowered total annual fund operating expense for its Vanguard® US Total Market Shares Index ETF (VTS), which has decreased from 0.07 to 0.06 per cent per annum.
