FlexShares to Introduce Variable Income ETF Thursday

FlexShares, the ETF arm of Northern Trust NTRS, plans to introduce its seventh ETF on Thursday with the debut of the FlexShares Ready Access Variable Income Fund. The ETF will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "RAVI," according to a statement issued by the exchange. RAVI will have an annual expense ratio of 0.25%, according to the fund's filing. RAVI seeks to achieve the investment objective by investing under normal circumstances at least 65% of its total assets in a non-diversified portfolio of fixed income instruments, including bonds, debt securities and other similar instruments issued by U.S. and non-U.S. public and private sector entities. Such issuers include, without limitation, U.S. and non-U.S. governments and their agencies, instrumentalities or sponsored enterprises, U.S. state and local governments and U.S. and non-U.S. private-sector entities, such as corporations and banks, according to the filing. FlexShares currently issues six ETFs, the largest of which is the FlexShares iBoxx 3-Year Target Duration TIPS Index Fund TDTT. TDTT has $660.1 million in assets under management. The firm's two newest funds are the FlexShares Morningstar Emerging Market Factor Tilt Index ETF TLTE and the FlexShares Morningstar Developed Markets ex-US Factor Tilt Index ETF TLTD, both of which debuted in late September. For more on ETFs, click here.