ST. PAUL, MN, March 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aware Asset Management, an active fixed income manager, celebrated the one-year anniversary of its first Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), the Aware Ultra-Short Duration Enhanced Income ETF (NYSE: AWTM). In little over one year, AWTM garnered $433 million in assets under management (as of February 28, 2020), and was named by ETF.com as the most popular of 2019’s new batch of fixed income ETFs.
The Aware Asset Management team are fixed income veterans with a long history of managing insurance company assets, and leveraged their experiences in developing AWTM for institutional investors, financial advisors and individual investors. AWTM is an actively managed, ultra-short fixed income ETF designed to be a cash-plus alternative to money market funds and other short-term fixed income investments.
“All of us at Aware are excited to celebrate AWTM’s one-year anniversary and to offer investors a cost-effective solution that seeks to preserve capital while maximizing current income,” said John Orner, President and CEO of Aware Asset Management. “As we move further into 2020, we believe AWTM is well-positioned to help investors benefit from opportunities at the short-end of the yield curve.”
AWTM holds a combination of debt from government and corporate issuers, and targets a gross yield of 0.75% to 1.00% over the most recently-issued 3-month U.S. Treasury Bill yields. The ETF has less sensitivity to interest rate movements due to its ultra-short duration, which is defined as less than 1 year. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) assigned AWTM an NAIC 2 designation, which helps insurers by allowing more favorable risk-based capital (RBC) requirements treatment. NAIC 2 is assigned to obligations of high quality.
About Aware Asset Management
Aware Asset Management has leveraged over 100 years of combined experience servicing the unique cash and risk management needs of the insurance industry to build an innovative new ETF for treasury managers. Aware Asset Management navigates global markets by combining a collaborative investment process with in-depth research and analysis, efficiently using our proprietary models and trading technology to deliver superior investment products.
Media Contact
Leann Gaines
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847.309.5497
Before investing you should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information is in the prospectus. A prospectus may be obtained by visiting www.awareetf.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest.
For the purpose of the Fund’s yield target, yield is defined as the weighted average yield-to-maturity of the Fund’s holdings. The yield or total return obtained by Fund shareholders may be different. Yield-to-maturity is the return from a fixed income instrument assuming the instrument is held to maturity. There is no guarantee that the Fund will meet its income target. An investment in the fund involves risk, including loss of principal.
The fund is subject to the same risks as the underlying bonds in the portfolio such as credit, prepayment, call and interest rate risk. As interest rates rise, the value of bond prices will decline. Since the Fund is actively managed it does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. The Fund therefore may have higher portfolio turnover and trading costs than index-based funds. The Fund may invest in other funds, and in so doing will incur the expenses and risks of those funds.
The Fund is not a money market fund and does not seek to maintain a stable NAV of $1.00 per Share. An investment in the fund involves risk, including possible loss of principal. There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve or maintain a status or credit quality equivalent to “investment grade.”
Shares of the Fund are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
NAIC Designations are the intellectual property of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and are redistributed here under License. An NAIC Designation is a proprietary symbol used by the NAIC Securities Valuation Office (SVO) to denote a category or band of credit risk (i.e., the likelihood of repayment in accordance with a written contract) for an issuer or for a security. NAIC Designations may be notched up or down to reflect the position of a specific liability in the issuer’s capital structure and/or the existence of other non-payment risk in the specific security. Under NAIC reporting rules, shares of an ETF are presumed to be reportable as common stock. The SVO may classify an ETF as a bond or preferred stock and assign it an NAIC Designation if it meets defined criteria. For a discussion of these criteria please call the SVO or refer to the Purposes and Procedures Manual of the NAIC Investment Analysis Office. The assignment of an NAIC Designation is not a recommendation to purchase the ETF and is not intended to convey approval or endorsement of the ETF Sponsor Aware Asset Management or the ETF by the NAIC.
3535 Blue Cross Road | St. Paul, Minnesota 55122 | 651.662.9886 | www.awareassetmgmt.com