Hartford Lowers Fees On 6 Smart Beta ETFs

Hartford Funds, the exchange traded funds and mutual funds arm of Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. HIG, lowered fees on six of its smart beta ETFs, including four multifactor products.

It was nearly two years ago that Hartford Funds acquired Lattice Strategies to bolster its ETF footprint. That deal brought Hartford the ETFs now known as the Hartford Multifactor Developed Markets (ex-US) ETF RODM, Hartford Multifactor US Equity ETF ROUS, Hartford Multifactor Global Small Cap ETF ROGS and the Hartford Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF ROAM.

Those four ETFs are among the products for which Hartford lowered its fees. The lower expense ratios went into effect last month.

More On The Fee Cuts

The Hartford Multifactor Developed Markets (ex-U.S.) ETF, which tracks the performance of companies located in major developed markets of Europe, Canada and the Asia Pacific region, is now charging 0.29 percent per year, or $29 on a $10,000 investment, down from 0.39 percent.

ROUS, the U.S. multifactor strategy, saw its annual fee trimmed from 0.29 percent to 0.19 percent. The Hartford Multifactor Global Small Cap ETF, which features U.S. small-caps as well as smaller stocks from developed and emerging markets, lowered its fee from 0.55 percent to 0.39 percent. The Hartford Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF expense ratio was lowered from 0.59 percent to 0.49 percent.

“As a result of these reductions, as of Feb. 15, the operating expense ratios for Hartford Funds’ multifactor ETFs now rank near the lowest one-third of all ETFs within their respective categories and among the least expensive 5 percent when compared to institutional share classes of all actively managed mutual funds,” according to a statement.

Fee Cuts For Low Vol

Hartford Funds also announced new, lower fees on its two low volatility ETFs. The Hartford Multifactor Low Volatility US Equity ETF LVUS, which previously charged 0.29 percent, is now charging 0.22 percent per year, or $22 on a $10,000 investment. Its international counterpart, the Hartford MultiFactor Low Volatility International ETF LVIN, lowered its fee from 0.39 percent to a new expense ratio of 0.29 percent per year.

LVIN and LVUS had $9.6 million in combined assets under management at the end of last year.

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